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V 







What the Advertiser & 

Artist Should Know 

about Reproduction 



A review of the different 
methods of reproducing 
drawings and paintings 
from the viewpoint of the 
requirements of modern 
advertising 

WITH WHICH IS 
INCORPORATED 

Specialized essays by ten 
of the most noteworthy 
Engraving houses in 
America 

Edited by 
LESLIE KROEGER 

of Westinghouse Lamp Co., N.Y. 



Compiled and Illustrated by 

THE LINNINGS New York 




Copyright, 1921 

by 

THE LINNINGS 

New York City 



M 14 1321 



©Ct.A614.724 



TO THOSE WHO SEE 

ART AND SCIENCE IN ADVERTISING 

AND ARE STRIVING FOR THEIR 

DEVELOPMENT, THIS BOOK 

IS RESPECTFULLY 

DEDICATED 



New York, 1921 



Index of Chapters 

CHAPTER PAGE 

Introduction ix 

i A Review of the Different Plates ... i 

ii Zinc Etchings ...... \ 7 

in Black and White Problems .... 15 

iv Half-tone Etchings 27 

v What an Advertiser and Artist Should 

Know About Half-tones . . . .37 

vi Wood-cuts or Wood Engravings ... 49 
vii Modern Wood Engravings and Their 

Purpose 57 

viii Duplicating Plates 61 

ix What an Advertiser and Artist Should 

Know About Electrotypes ... 69 

x Rotogravure Process Printing .... 89 

xi How Rotogravure Pictures Are Made . 99 

xii The Ben Day Process and Its Application 109 
xiii Ben Day Screens — A Logical Process . .117 

xiv A Look into Lithography 127 

xv What an Advertiser and Artist Should 

Know About Lithography . . .133 

xvi A Talk About Offset 141 

xvii Offset Lithography — The Most Modern 

Process of Reproduction . . . .145 

xviii Tint Blocks and Their Practical Use . 157 

xix Color and When 161 

xx The Three- and Four-Color Processes . . 1 69, 

v 



INDEX— Continued 

CHAPTER PAGE 

xxi Complications Connected with Color- 
plate Making . . . . , . .181 

xxii The Prisma tone Process 189 

xxiii The Purpose of the Matrix . . .197 

xxiv Crayon and Charcoal Drawings . .205 

xxv Silver Prints 207 

xxvi "The Reducing Glass" 211 

xxvii The "Bleed" Border 213 

xxviii Glossary of Terms and Expressions Used 

by Photoengravers . . . . . .215 

xxix A String to Tie Around Artists' Fingers . 221 



VI 



Index to Engravers' Articles 

ARTICLE PAGE 

i Black and White Problems. A few 
pointers on the preparation of drawings 
for Line Reproduction. Warren J. 
Stoddard. The H. C. Jones Engraving 
Co., New York City 15 

11 What the Advertiser and Artist Should 

Know About Half-tones. Gatchel & 
Manning, Inc., Philadelphia, Pa. . . 37 

in Modern Wood Engravings and Their 
Purpose. Dahl and Sinnott, Hartford, 
Conn 57 

iv Use and Abuse of Duplicating Plates, 
Including Do's and Don't's. James 
R. Crowell, of the Reilly Electrotype Co., 
Inc., New York City 61 

v How Rotogravure Pictures are Made. 
Neo Gravure Printing Company, Inc., 
New York City 99 

vi Ben Day Screens — A Logical Process. 
The Walker Engraving Co., New York 
City 117 

vii What the Advertiser and Artist Should 

Know About Lithography. Einson 
Litho, Incorporated, New York City . 133 

viii Offset Lithography, the Most Modern 
Process of Reproduction. Andrew 
H. Kellogg Co., New York City . . .147 

ix The Three- and Four-color Processes 
From the Advertiser's Viewpoint. 
The Sterling Engraving Co., New York 
City 169 

x The Purpose of the Matrix. The 

Schaefer Company, New York City . .197 

xi A String to Tie Around Artists' 

Fingers. The Printers Ink Monthly, 
Copyright Romer Publishing Co. . .221 

VII 



WHAT THE ADVERTISER AND 

ARTIST SHOULD KNOW 

ABOUT REPRODUCTION 



Introduction 

THE subject of Reproduction is of infinite 
detail, and no one, however skilled in the 
art, can boast of a complete understanding of 
every one of its varied branches. The more you 
know, the more you realize how much there is 
still to learn. 

We are making a real effort to overcome, 
first and foremost, the problems of those find- 
ing difficulty, and, perhaps, no small embar- 
rassment in the pursuit of their daily duties 
and studies. 

Care will be taken not to mystify the reader 
with trade terms and technical phrases. When- 
ever practical, of course, there is no better les- 
son obtainable than a trip through an engrav- 
ing house, where the actual processes of manu- 
facture can be witnessed and the progress of 
the work studied as it passes through the 
various departments. 

There is no longer any reason why we should 
labor under the delusion that the "average 
reader' ' pays no attention to good or bad adver- 
tising. The idea belongs to yesterday, for the 
deluge of display has taught the layman the 
difference between the clever and the common- 
place, and has given him the desire to take 

XI 



more than a passing interest in the various 
manners and methods of handling advertising 
and to appreciate technique to the fullest ex- 
tent. The day has come for the advertiser to 
insist on the finest reproduction of the clever- 
est art work, to think up ways and means of 
adding novelty to campaigns, and to realize 
that the public is "wise" to "overdone" copy. 
St. Beauvre, the great Frenchman, said: "Six- 
teen words in the mouth of one man are com- 
monplace, whereas they are a flash of genius 
in the mouth of another," and copywriters 
should hang this as a sign in their department. 

In this country the artist finds it difficult 
to come in contact with the business man any 
longer than to submit his sketches or finished 
drawings, and rarely, if ever, is he given a 
chance to talk seriously about reproduction. 

The drawing is generally to be for a half- 
tone, line plate or possibly a combination 
plate. In many cases, the artist, if he is a good 
one, could show the advertiser methods of re- 
production that would actually save him 
money. The same is true regarding the rela- 
tions of the engraver and advertiser. One tries 
to bluff the other as to how much he knows 
about engraving ; the other often looks out for 
the process that will net him the most money. 
An engraver told us recently how Mr. So-and- 
so of such and such an agency sent in a draw- 
ing and an order calling for reproduction in 

XII 



five colors, Ben Day, and Mr. Engraver was 
smiling because he knew that it could be re- 
produced with fewer plates, because he was 
familiar with the facts that blue and yellow 
made green, and red and yellow made orange. 
Everyone in the advertising business feels that 
each member of the allied branches lives in 
another world. This is the fault of the system, 
and it is this condition that suggested to us 
the writing of this text-book for the direct help 
of the art buyer, the plate buyer, the student- 
artist, or any others interested in advertising. 
It should always be remembered that it is even 
possible that, although the business man holds 
the stakes, the artist and engraver are more 
necessary to him than he is to the artist and 
engraver, when it comes to the point of repro- 
duction. 

An advertisement of The Walker Engraving 
Company, of New York City, expresses the 
earnest desire for a better understanding be- 
tween advertiser and engraver. "We have no 
patience with the engraver who pretends he's 
a magician — the purple veil of mystery is old 
stuff. The more you know about how engrav- 
ings are made and how long it takes, the bet- 
ter for us. Most instructions (from the adver- 
tiser) have to be shaken well before taken." 

In offering this book to the art and adver- 
tising professions, the writers believe it will 
have a beneficial influence. It has been the 



result of months of close analysis, fifteen years' 
experience and an earnest desire to furnish 
both advertiser and artist with a comprehen- 
sive text-book without the usual dry taste. 

The writers believe that this book will sup- 
ply a long-felt want, particularly for those who 
have recently entered the advertising pro- 
fession. 

Our thanks and appreciation we tender to 
those worthy organizations who have so will- 
ingly contributed the up-to-the-minute essays 
which appear at the close of each chapter. 

The Linnings. 



i 10 West 40th Street, 
New York City, 1921. 



XIV 



CHAPTER I 

A Review of the Different Plates 

PLATES, or "cuts," as they are more pop- 
ularly known, play a big part in the 
advertising and printing business. Both the 
artist and the advertiser should possess a work- 
ing knowledge of their use, and the purposes 
for which they are best suited. They should 
also be familiar with the processes employed 
in their making, the comparative costs of the 
different plates, the time required for their 
preparation and other details involved in their 
handling. Such working knowledge contributes 
to art, engraving and printing, efficiency and 
economy. 

Until the last quarter of the 19th century, 
reproductive processes, save as regards line 
reproduction, can hardly be said to have 
existed. When it was desired to reproduce 
paintings and drawings for printing, they had 
to go through a process of interpretation by an 
engraver or draughtsman who gave a render- 
ing of the subject on metal, wood or stone. 
The means at their disposal were dots and 
lines, which, varying in their thickness and 
proximity, expressed dark and light passages 

— *■ Page One •+- 



REPRODUCTION 



in the scheme of light and shade of the original. 
It will readily be understood how such inter- 
pretations would vary. An engraver with fine 
art instincts would produce an engraving as 
distinct in character as was the original paint- 
ing or drawing. Engravings of this type were 
sought as works of art, and treasured for their 
artistic qualities. But these engravings took 
time to produce. Years were devoted to the 
making of a single steel or copper plate, while 
wood engravers, who were artists, would only 
work on a block when in the mood. For this 
reason publishers frequently had to endure 
long periods of waiting. They naturally grew 
impatient and were willing to accept rapid in- 
terpretations by men who could produce them 
under other than artistic conditions. But the 
pain of the artist at the bad rendering of his 
original was often great, so that he, not less 
than the publisher, hailed with enthusiasm 
the attempts that were being made to repro- 
duce his work by mechanical means. The ideal 
of the artist would naturally be a reproduc- 
tion of his work which would retain all of its 
individual characteristics. To give him this 
was the aim of the school of wood engravers 
which originated in the United States. They 
made a last stand to maintain the position of 

-*- Page Two •*- 



REVIEW OF PLATES 

their art in the field of book illustrating. 

By a system of extremely fine work the 
American wood engravers were able to keep 
much closer to the tones of an original than 
had previously been possible. However, the 
result was obtained at a sacrifice of the artistic 
rendering of the best old engravings, and was 
so mechanical in its character that when it had 
to compete with a real mechanical process, 
this class of engraving could not hold its 
ground. The enormous difference in the cost 
of production was also a factor of sufficient 
importance in itself to make it impossible for 
wood engraving to retain the field. A similar 
development had been going on in the other 
branches of engraving. The line engraver and 
the etcher found themselves faced by mechani- 
cal reproductions in plate form, which, while 
preserving more of the character of the original 
work, were produced in much less time and at 
greatly reduced costs. It has thus come about 
that the last quarter of the 19th century wit- 
nessed the dispossession of the hand engraver 
from the field of interpretative engraving, and 
the occupation of his position by the chemist 
and the mechanician. 

The term "process," which has come to be 
applied to all photo-mechanical reproduction, 

-*■ Page Three ■*- 



REPRODUCTION 



is a somewhat unfortunate one, inasmuch as it 
is descriptive of nothing. From time to time 
various names have been given to its various 
forms, indicative either of the name of the 
inventor or some peculiarity of the method 
involved. Zincography, gillotype, photogra- 
vure, heliogravure, heliotype, phototype, al- 
bertype, are illustrations of the kinds of names 
given to the slightly varying applications of 
the same principle, but usage has come to 
apply the term "process" to any printing sur- 
face that is produced by chemical or mechani- 
cal means. 

The majority of the modern "processes" 
are the result of Mungo Ponton's discovery, 
that a preparation of albumen or other colloid 
substance and bichromate of potash could be 
hardened and rendered insoluble and non- 
absorbent in water by exposure to light. Just 
as a photographic negative permits the pas- 
sage of light through it in varying degrees of 
intensity, so a film of this preparation when 
placed under a negative was found to harden 
and become insoluble in degrees varying with 
the intensity of the light affecting it. This dis- 
covery now governs the production of all 
process blocks or plates. 

Speaking of metal plate printing and leav- 

—i- Page Four ■*- 



REVIEW OE PLATES 

ing lithography and its numerous related 
branches to separate chapters, there are al- 
ready nine different kinds of plates used in the 
advertising business. These are also used in 
combination with each other, making what 
are known as combination plates, the most 
common being a combination zinc etching 
and half-tone. 

There are three original plates, namely — 
Zinc etchings, Half-tones and Wood-cuts, and 
from these are made six duplicate reproduc- 
tions used for actual printing, unless the run 
is very small, in which case the original plate 
is used. The duplicate plates are termed as 
follows: Electrotypes, Lead-moulded electro- 
types, Steeltypes, Nickeltypes, Stereotypes 
and Aluminumtypes. 

All the different color processes on metal are 
concocted from these basic plates and the 
nature of these different cuts and processes, 
the possibilities of their use and purpose, with 
some explanation as to the method of their 
manufacture, are discussed in the chapters 
that follow. 

The wearing qualities of the different plates 
will make a suitable ending paragraph for this 
chapter. It is always interesting and very often 
a mystery just how long a plate will wear, or 

-+ Page Five •*- 



REPRODUCTION 



how many impressions it will "pull." Pre- 
suming that the plates are properly made and 
correctly used, the medium screen half-tone or 
line plate will give one hundred thousand or 
more good impressions. 

A fine screen half-tone will not pull more 
than ten to fifteen thousand impressions, 
whereas a coarse screen half-tone or a broad 
coarse line engraving will pull one hundred 
and fifty to two hundred thousand impressions. 
The fineness of a half-tone screen determines 
its life, naturally. 

Then there are other conditions which tend 
to shorten the life of plates, for instance : im- 
proper make-ready, too much impression, 
poor presses, hard and gritty surface papers 
and the chemical action of some printing inks ; 
however, as a general rule, the above estimate 
may be taken as authoritative. 



■*-»■ Page Six 



CHAPTER II 

Zinc Etchings 

THE zinc etching is the commonest and 
most frequently used plate. It is some- 
times called a "line cut," "line engraving," or 
just plain common "zinc." 

The prints from zinc etchings come out 
black and white only or solid color, no tones. 
They are suitable for any kind of work where 
the subject can be illustrated in solid line, 
stipple, masses of black or any single color. 
The drawing from a zinc cut is always made 
with solid black ink or paint, but the adver- 
tiser should note that it is possible to make 
zinc plates from red, orange, or dark green 
subjects, as these colors have a black photo- 
graphic value on a commercial negative. Light 
blue has no photographic value on the nega- 
tives used in making zinc etchings, so for this 
reason, it is sometimes used on drawings to 
indicate Ben Day, or parts of drawings which 
are to appear in different colors on different 
plates. 

Shaded effects desired in zinc work can be 
obtained by the artist through "stippling," 
which is shading with lines or dots, or by the 

-* Page Seven *- 



REPRODUCTION 



Ben Day machine. These processes are ex- 
tremely important ones in the engraving busi- 
ness and are of the utmost value to the adver- 
tiser and artist. They are entirely mechani- 
cal and enable the artist to obtain different 
tone values as well as strikingly beautiful 
effects when used in color work. Some of our 
best direct by mail folders and illustrated 
booklets are produced by Ben Day on zinc 
plates. These are sometimes called "tint 
blocks" or "tint plates." The advertiser should 
always insist on the artist providing an intel- 
ligent "color sketch" with his black and white 
drawing for Ben Day color plates. 

In many cases it is not enough to mark the 
colors on the tissue flap of the drawing unless 
the colors are of a very simple nature. The 
artist should bear in mind that the man who 
lays the Ben Day on the plates is also an ar- 
tist, a Ben Day artist, who is usually apt in 
helping the artist to provide an attractive 
color scheme. As a rule the Ben Day man 
knows more about color than the artist knows 
about the Ben Day machine. Many an at- 
tractive drawing intended for Ben Day color 
work loses its effectiveness when reproduced, 
because of the lack of a good color sketch. 
Serious mistakes are often made, which mean 

t+ Page Eight ■*- 




Zinc etching, commonly called a "line cut." Original 

drawing was about three times larger. Plate by The H. C. 

Jones Engraving Co., N. Y. 






ZINC ETCHINGS 



the making over of plates, because the artist 
thought the engraver understood that so and 
so was to be in such and such a color. 

There is a wide range of papers upon which 
zinc etchings can be printed and this is a mat- 
ter that should be decided jointly by the 
advertiser and artist. The paper to be used is 
governed with a view to the amount of detail 
contained in the design. Fine detail naturally 
requires a smoother paper than a design which 
is coarser and has broad flat surfaces. Of 
course, if the paper is chosen before the artist's 
work is begun, the advertiser should acquaint 
him with that fact and furnish him with 
samples so that his work may be governed 
accordingly. 

The Ben Day process and a description of 
the machine are in a following chapter. 

It is often desirable and sometimes neces- 
sary, in order to secure distinctive effects, to 
reverse the drawing either as to position or 
color. For example, repeating a design in a 
reversed position on the opposite side of the 
page, or making letters appear white on a 
black background instead of vice-versa. 
These are known as "reversed plates." 

Such reversed plates should always be 
watched carefully, in order that essential de- 

— »- Page Nine •*- 



REPRODUCTION 



tails are not shown in wrong positions as, for 
example, a figure writing with a left hand, or 
a left drive automobile appearing right drive. 

Intelligent instructions should be written on 
the drawing for the guidance of the engraver, 
such as, "reverse plate and insert as indicated 
on drawing," or the like. 

Zinc or line plates are made by the photo- 
engraving process, which is fundamentally 
photographic, and embraces chemistry and 
physics to a considerable extent. 

The following is a brief yet helpful descrip- 
tion of the essential steps in the manufacture 
of these plates. Please note that processes 
change from time to time and the one here 
described is authoritatively correct at this 
time. 

The camera sets on a long frame at one end 
of which is a board to which the drawing is 
fastened. Both the camera and drawing are 
therefore held by the same frame, so that jars 
and vibrations do not affect the focus by 
changing their relative positions. The camera 
moves backward or forward in the frame to 
facilitate enlarging or reducing, as the case 
may be. The photographer ascertains the 
focus and size of the plate needed by simply 
measuring the image of the drawing as it 

— «■ Page Ten •*- 



ZINC ETCHINGS 



appears on the ground glass in the rear of the 
camera. Powerful electric arc lights are played 
on the drawing no matter if the work is done 
during the day or at night, in order to insure a 
clear strong negative. This negative is then 
passed on to the dark room man who devel- 
ops it. Next the film, which is especially pre- 
pared from a solution of collodion and rubber, 
is "stripped" from the glass and placed in a 
reversed position on another piece of glass to 
dry. 

A plate of zinc having a perfectly smooth 
polished surface is now coated with a highly 
sensitized solution. The zinc is then placed in 
a frame with the sensitized side up and the 
glass holding the film is placed on the zinc 
with the film side down. These are now ex- 
posed to the intense light of electric arcs. It 
is commonly supposed that this light prints 
an image on the zinc, but this is not so. The 
light, however, acts upon the sensitized plate 
and the action causes the exposed parts (those 
not directly under the translucent parts of the 
film) to develop and adhere tightly to the zinc. 

The zinc is now removed from the frame 
and inked with an ink roller, after which it is 
developed and washed. The water does not 
wash the ink from such parts of the sensitized 

-»■ Page Eleven •*- 



REPRODUCTION 



coating as were acted upon by the light, but 
all other parts of the plate which were not 
acted upon by the light, are washed clean, 
leaving only the first view of the reversed 
design. The plate is now ready for etching. It 
is first dusted with what is known as dragon's 
blood, a fine red powder which sticks to the 
ink. This is then "burned in" by holding the 
plate over a flame which causes the dragon's 
blood to melt, thus forming a protective film 
over the ink, which makes it acid proof. The 
back of the plate is made proof by a coating 
of asphaltum varnish. 

The plate is now placed in a shallow tank 
containing a solution of nitric acid, and by 
means of a mechanical device the tank is 
rocked so as to keep the acid eating evenly 
over the whole of the zinc. Here is where good 
or bad plate making is proven. The reader 
will realize that highly skilled labor is neces- 
sary to perform all these delicate operations, 
especially the operation of etching in the acid 
bath. It will also be seen that all these exact- 
ing processes render reductions impossible, 
below a certain price. When an advertiser 
pays less for his cuts than is consistent with 
good workmanship, he probably gets poorly 
etched plates. As will be seen in the next 

-*• Page Twelve •*- 



ZINC ETCHINGS 



paragraph it is easier to etch a plate too shal- 
lowly, than to the correct depth, and it is also 
easy for an inefficient workman to allow the 
acid to eat under and weaken some lines or 
let the finer lines be eaten entirely away. 

In etching a zinc plate correctly it is not 
allowed to remain in the acid solution until it 
has been etched to its final depth, for as soon 
as the acid has eaten down below the protect- 
ing film of dragon's blood and ink, it also be- 
gins to eat under the film. If nothing is done 
to prevent this, some lines are eaten away 
while others will crumble when put under the 
pressure of the printing press. 

To avoid all this, the plate is given four 
separate baths or "bites." Between each oper- 
ation the plate is removed from the bath and 
redusted carefully with dragon's blood. This 
keeps the acid eating downward all the time 
and is the only insurance for good plates, 
which will stand up under all necessary con- 
ditions. 

After etching, the plate is passed on to the 
"router," who "routs" all superfluous metal 
from the sides and from between such parts 
of the design as are far apart. This also is a 
delicate operation requiring a man of expe- 
rience in order that the fast moving drill does 

-*- Page Thirteen ■*- 



REPRODUCTION 



not cut too close and chip away parts of the 
design. 

The plate is now ready to be ' 'mounted,' ' 
that is, fastened on a wooden block or other 
mounting device that makes the printing sur- 
face of the plate exactly type high. 



Page Fourteen 



CHAPTER III 
Black and White Problems 

A few pointers on the preparation 
of drawings for line reproduction 

By Warren J. Stoddard 

of The H. C. Jones Engraving Co. 

New York City 

THIS essay is not intended to explain in 
detail the different processes through 
which a line plate is subjected in the course 
of manufacture, but to primarily set forth 
various methods and treatments which are 
just as well to know in connection with the 
preparation of drawings for line reproduction. 
How can we ever be sure that drawings made 
for newspaper use will show up properly when 
they are printed — will not smudge, fill in? It 
is the common custom to make originals in- 
ordinately large. Engravers think artists are a 
little off, mentally, because of this. They can- 
not understand, when there are so many 
mechanical pitfalls, why an artist will draw a 
picture twenty by thirty when it is scheduled 
for a plate five by six. The engraver knows 
that fine shading will "fill in," he also knows 
that he gets the blame if results are poor. 

— *- Page Fifteen -*— 



REPRODUCTION 



An up-state bank required pictures, in line, 
of the front elevation of its handsome build- 
ing. Engravings were required, for standard 
use, one, two, three and four columns in width. 

We felt, at the wry inception of the order, 
that one master-original would not do for all 
of these newspaper sizes. If we drew it refined 
enough for four column reproduction, it would 
fill in, in one column. If we drew it to meet the 
demands of the single column, it would be far 
too crude for the larger sizes. 

But the advertiser would have his own way. 

We wanted to prove that two drawings 
should be made if he was to play absolutely safe. 

The drawing was plated in the larger size 
and in the smaller. Then proofs were struck 
off on common newspaper stock. The single 
column plate was a black smudge, as might 
have been expected. And so two separate 
illustrations were made, one simple and in 
outline for single column and one containing 
far more detail for the larger sizes. 

Advertising pictures, as now used, have one 
fault — there is too much detail. 

It's all very well to draw things as they are 
when you intend to exhibit in a salon, but in 
advertising we agree with associates of ours 
who say : 

-t- Page Sixteen •*- 



BLACK AND WHITE 

"Suppose in writing copy, we followed the 
rule of the average artist. Suppose we used as 
many words in writing a story as the art de- 
partment uses unnecessary detail ! What would 
happen? It would require t°n pages for a single 
piece of text. We have had to learn the use of 
wise elimination. You folks should learn the 
same Golden Rule. We boil it down to the 
fewest possible words. But an artist wants and 
even demands to use every pen line, every 
color and every fragment of accessory. People 
can't be expected to give as much time and 
attention to advertising illustrations as they 
would to an exhibition of paintings. Get your 
thought over quickly, simply and with mini- 
mum amount of detail." 

The artistry of pen-and-ink renderings has 
perhaps made a more noticeable stride than 
other features. By contrast with what was 
used, they seem positively wonderful. 

Here we have developed for us delicate 
textures and gradations of line, grace and 
technique and innovation of treatment that 
rival the efforts of the reading matter pages 
of the magazines in which they appear. 

Yes, advertising has made it possible for the 
artist to take pride in his work. The subjects 
are more inspiring. The copy expert delves 

— *• Page Seventeen ■*— 



REPRODUCTION 



deeper into the psychology of salesmanship 
and, in turn, offers his art collaborator a broad 
bright field. 

It required this outlet, in reality, to prove 
to us that there were so many interesting pen- 
and-ink "styles." The true artist can paint 
with a pen and a bottle of drawing ink. It is 
possible for him to put his own individuality 
into the lines. 

Compare what used to be with what is and 
you will find that the advance has been little 
short of amazing. We marvel now that such 
crude attempts ever passed muster, ever 
produced results. 

Straight wash may have its defined limita- 
tions. In pen-and-ink there really is none. An 
artist's fancy runs free and unhampered. See 
what Coll, for example, has accomplished with 
his pen ! Keller, of whom we all know, etches 
with a two-ninety Gillott. Harry Fenn gives 
the breath of life to leaves and flowers and 
quiet woodland hedges and all the glorious 
weave of Mother Nature, when she sets to her 
task. Yet, when we stop to think of it, the old 
masters were apt to play with fine lines and 
the subtleties of the drawing pen. Who can 
say that Abbey was not at his marvelous best 
when tracing out for future generations those 

-*• Page Eighteen •*- 



BLACK AND WHITE 

charming, fragile, yet wholly human studies 
of his pen and ink. 

We sometimes rub our eyes in startled be- 
wilderment at the transformation and the jux- 
taposition of art with commerce. A hulking 
tractor, all mechanism and steel and grime, 
is made to seem beautiful — is given senti- 
ment, feeling, even personality. From soap to 
kitchen cabinets, the genius of the man with 
the pen puts new and unsuspected romance 
into salesmanship. 

Advertising would be at its wits' end, in the 
embellishment of the message, without the line 
plate and genius mixed with black drawing 
ink. It has always been acknowledged that 
pen and ink as a medium of expression, allows 
greater latitude for individuality. Just as no 
two persons write alike, so, it would seem, the 
drawing pen and the jet black ink combine 
to bring out distinctive qualities in an artist's 
illustration. It is such a mistake to think 
that black and white, as a technique, prohibits 
subtleties. 

A remarkable drawing paper is manufac- 
tured for use by the artist when he wishes to 
give various imitations in pen and ink of wood- 
cut effects. It has a very hard chalk surface. 
Paint in a mass of black with ink and then, 

-*- Page Nineteen ■*- 



REPRODUCTION 



with a sharp knife, scratch out any width of 
white line you wish. It is difficult to make cor- 
rections on this paper so be sure you are right 
before you go ahead. 

Of recent years the popularity of the dry 
brush treatment has greatly increased, due, no 
doubt, to its easy going, printable and de- 
cidedly artistic appearance. Such drawings are 
made, as a rule, on heavy illustration board, 
the surface of which is somewhat rough, which 
gives a resistance to the brush and leaves little 
open spaces. The engraver need experience no 
great difficulty in making such plates, provided 
the brush-marks are black. If they trail off 
into gray, then he does have his troubles. It 
has been found expedient to use lamp-black 
from tubes, rather than ink, for this purpose. 

It is best not to make the originals too large 
— never more than three times actual size, 
although not all artists, by any means, adhere 
to this suggestion. 

The fusing of photographs with line acces- 
sories is only another possibility not used as 
much as its charm justifies. The accomplish- 
ment of this is simple. If a complete photo- 
graphic subject is to be made over in two 
values, that portion which is to remain in half- 
tone is neatly silhouetted with scissors or sharp 

-*• Page Twenty ■*- 



BLACK AND WHITE 

knife and mounted on drawing paper. Then the 
other part of the subject is traced off around 
it and interpreted in pen and ink. Too much 
shading is dangerous here. Better results are 
secured with open line treatment. 

An advertising department produced a 
series of advertisements, in each case a large 
area of the background was in solid black. 
Everybody around the shop liked the effect. 

It was strong, vigorous, compelling. "It will 
kill everything else in the publication" was one 
comment. And in this remark you have the 
answer. 

Most assuredly this form of illustration 
would do just that, and because it is unfair to 
other advertisers, particularly on pages where 
there is competition, many of the magazines 
either refuse such copy altogether or run it 
considerably changed by the use of stippling 
on the plate. 

The process is quite simple. By running a 
grain or dotted tint in white over the solid 
black, the strength of the original is vastly 
decreased. 

It can be done mechanically by any en- 
graver, and it can be done on the completed 
plate. 

No publication wishes to be unfair to its 

-*• Page Twenty-one •*- 



REPRODUCTION 



advertisers, and when, on a certain page, one 
advertisement eats up printing ink by the 
gallon in making a bull's-eye, the advertiser 
who has taken refuge in no such strong-arm 
method is done an injustice. Moreover the 
advertising pages are more or less marred by 
unsightly blotches of black. 

This is not to say that black backgrounds 
are not valid under certain conditions. It's all 
in the way you do it. 

The advertiser in newspapers takes a very 
long chance when he makes solid black over 
large space the keynote of the display, simply 
because he feels that his advertisement will be 
stronger than those around it. Cleverness is so 
much better than printers' ink. It's the idea that 
counts, rather than the lathering on of black. 

Newspapers can't print these big black 
areas as they appear in the original. More than 
likely, they will "show up" a dingy, unsightly 
splotch. Ben Day tints are far more preferable. 
Fast running presses are unable to distribute 
the ink evenly — and enough of it. 

The effects can be secured, in an exact way, 
of course, by the magazines, and certain peri- 
odicals allow the advertiser to go his own way, 
passing no censorship and laying down no 
rules. Black is the oldest known commander 



-*■ Page Twenty-two 



BLACK AND WHITE 

of attention. It is gloomy and forbidding and 
sinister, but it throws the object out until it 
dances on the vision and cries for reader- 
attention. Too much black is funereal and the 
color psychologist will tell you that just as 
green suggests envy, red passion, blue inno- 
cence, etc., black is a breeder of gloom. That 
is its characteristic, its message. 

Very often a spot of black in a composition 
will enrich and brighten the advertisement. 
It is effective when demonstrations are neces- 
sary, or when objects must be brought out 
sharply, distinctly, against no particular acces- 
sory backgrounds. 

Where periodicals are sure to cut down the 
strength of black, regardless of the plate you 
send in, it is much better to do it yourself in 
advance, then you will know what will happen. 
Some strange stories are told of stippling and 
Ben Daying left to the tender mercies of the 
publication. Why take this chance? 

The artist can himself approximate solid 
black in backgrounds. He can leave occasional 
patches of white dots. He can imitate the old- 
time wood-engraving. He can vignette his 
blacks and make them come well within the 
magazine ruling. Or the engraver can be given 
a Ben Day screen and asked to attend to 

— •* Page Twenty-three •*- 



REPRODUCTION 



graying the solid areas. Never leave it for 
someone else to do. When these hurriedly done 
Ben Day patterns cross white lettering, there 
is sure to be trouble. Legibility ceases on the 
spot. 

Printers are afraid of a wide expanse of 
black for technical and mechanical reasons. 
If a speck of dust or a clot of ink or any foreign 
substance happens to reach the plate, it 
sticks there and a number of impressions are 
run off, marring the background. Presses must 
be stopped and the obstruction cleared away. 
This might happen to almost any plate, but 
where there is a great deal of black it is doubly 
noticeable. 

Give first consideration to the idea and 
thought behind an illustration rather than its 
technique. 

Black is not a sales agent by itself. 

Black, injudiciously used — and compara- 
tively few know how to use it — does more 
harm than good. 

Never, never use white text on a solid black 
background, unless it be a name plate or a 
short title. 

You can achieve sensational and striking 
results without solid black. 

It is the dynamite of display. Dynamite is 

—•- Page Twenty-four +- 



BLACK AND WHITE 

useful at times. It can be made to accomplish 
serviceable purposes, but people who fool with 
high explosives should know all about them. 

Seven or eight years ago an art institute, 
advertising extensively, put out a single 
column display in which the silhouette head 
of a charming child was the main feature. 
There have been several experimental changes, 
but the original advertisement seems to have 
stood the test of time better than anything 
they have used. For the silhouette does not 
grow tiresome. Much can be said of this form 
of commercial art favorably on the score of 
compelling reader-attention within the law of 
competition. A few seasons ago a manufac- 
turer of very fine writing paper employed a 
woman to draw twelve silhouette pictures for 
half-page space. They were interlaced with 
fine line decorations of the French school, and 
the period borders were studied out with in- 
finite care. These black masses emphasized 
the sparkling white sheets of paper, and no 
campaign of that year attracted more favorable 
comment. 

Are there intricacies connected with the 
production of silhouettes ? Are they any more 
difficult to secure than other art expression? 
Is there some trick or knack? 

-*- Page Twenty-five •*- 



REPRODUCTI ON 



These questions are frequently asked. The 
silhouette is far less expensive to produce than 
the commercial art design of common prac- 
tice. Once the outline is drawn there remains 
only the filling in of the ink. First, however, 
must come a scientifically and accurately 
sketched skeleton of the figure, face or land- 
scape. The fact that they are solid black does 
not mean that poor draughtsmanship can be 
concealed. 

An artist must be an efficient student to make 
a silhouette. That no detail is allowed seems 
to increase the need of outline accuracy and 
super-drawing. Introduction of interrupting 
whites and grays, detracts rather than adds to 
the charm of the silhouette. It should not be 
mongrel. 

After suffering the tortures of poor printing 
with half-tones on farm-paper and newspaper 
stock, the Joseph & Feiss Company, makers 
of Clothcraft Clothes, hit upon the silhouette 
and found that the style story could be told 
in a remarkably clever way. 

And so it goes — chapters could be written 
on the wonders of the ink bottle, the flexible 
pen and the zinc plate. Certain it is that 
from them originate many of the most 
novel and original effects of advertising. 

— *• Page Twenty-six •*- 



CHAPTER IV 
Half-tone Etchings 

HALF-TONE work introduces the use of 
the photographic screen in reproduc- 
tion. There are very few in the advertising 
and allied professions who have not at least 
heard of a screen. There seems, however, to be 
some kind of a mystery surrounding its use, 
and the writer has heard more than one adver- 
tising man refer to screens as some college 
boys refer to Algebra — they understand all 
about it — but? 

This chapter will possibly help somewhat to 
clarify existing difficulties of a few who are 
uncertain on the subject. 

The drawing or object to be reproduced is 
photographed through a screen consisting of 
a heavy plate of clear glass, accurately ruled 
with fine black lines both vertically and hori- 
zontally, and of a certain number to the inch. 
The screens in use at present vary from 55 to 
400 lines to the inch, but anything over 175 
lines is considered very delicate and can only 
be used for the very finest of coated stock and 
must be printed very slowly to be of advan- 
tage. The proper balance between paper stock 

-•■ Page Twenty-seven •*- 



REPRODUCT I ON 



and half-tones must be ascertained and main- 
tained. The screen is located in the camera 
immediately in front of the negative so that 
the negative is exposed to the drawing through 
the screen. The result is that the drawing or 
copy is photographed in dots which equal in 
weight and strength the tone values of the 
drawing. When the negative is transferred and 
the finished plate made, these dots constitute 
the printing surface. Each gradation in tone, 
except white and solid black, is obtainable, 
but the white of the copy appears a very light 
gray and the black almost but not quite solid. 
The process for securing pure white and solid 
black costs more than for a straight half-tone, 
but where it is desired, the "High Light" 
process will overcome these seeming half-tone 
drawbacks. In making a high-light half-tone, 
the engraver combines two half-tone negatives, 
one under exposed, and the other over-exposed. 
Then by registering the two negatives, the 
softest tone and the strongest shadows are 
portrayed. The pure whites on the original are 
automatically cut clean on the plate, and the 
whole process gives a faithful reproduction, 
even to the most delicate pencil lines. In some 
cases where hand-work on a straight half-tone 
plate would not cost more than high-light 

— t- Page Twenty-eight -*— 



HALF-TONE ETCHINGS 

plates, it is quite satisfactory to have the pure 
whites "tooled" out by the engraver (but 
this should be first ascertained). By this 
means the light gray portions which should 
be white are made so by cutting out the screen. 
This work requires great skill and care and is 
done by hand with fine instruments by an 
engraver who holds the plate under a magni- 
fying glass. The darker portions of the plate 
can be "burnished" to intensify the black, or 
"staging" may be done in the acid bath by 
means of which certain parts of the plate re- 
ceive extra treatment to bring out certain 
effects. This of course, involves extra time and 
expense, factors which, of course, must be con- 
sidered by the advertiser. 

Half-tone plates are made from photo- 
graphs or wash, pencil, crayon or charcoal 
drawings and from paintings that have good 
photographic value. They may also be made 
direct from the object if it is sufficiently flat 
to be focused sharply by the camera. 

When making half-tones from photographs 
they should be sharp and clear. The clever re- 
toucher can bring out the different tones, 
smooth out irregular surfaces and strengthen 
shadows and outlines, correct any faulty light- 
ing, remove objectionable or distracting parts 

— «■ Page Twenty- nine - 1 — 



REPRODUCTION 



and emphasize the more important details 
which the camera may fail to bring out. It 
should always be remembered that the en- 
graver cannot put into a half-tone any more 
than is in the original picture and a little is 
usually lost in reproduction by softer con- 
trasts and the weakening of finer detail. The 
retoucher is a very important person. He can, 
in some cases lend tremendous advertising 
power by a subtle centering of the attention 
on the selling point of the article. 

Wash drawings are used where a photo- 
graphic effect is desired and one of their prin- 
cipal uses is the making of "bird's-eye" views 
of buildings, factories or groups of buildings 
where actual photographs cannot be advan- 
tageously employed. These are made by an 
artist from a number of photographs of the 
buildings. He determines first a desired "pros- 
pective point" and then combines the photo- 
graphs in one bird's-eye view, but it is not quite 
so easy as it sounds. It requires the artist to 
have a working knowledge of the principles of 
perspective and a display of common sense and 
patience. The latest method of making a real 
bird's-eye view picture is to actually have one 
taken by an experienced airplane photographer 
from an altitude suitable to the range required 

-+ Page Thirty *- 




65-Line Half-tone 
Outlined 



i 33-Line Half-tone 
Outlined 



£*N 




85-Line Half-tone 
Lined 





1 7 5-Line Hal f-tone 
Outlined 



Illustrating commonly used screens and methods of 
finishing plates. Half-tones by Gatchel & Manning, Inc. 



HALF-TONE ETCHINGS 

for focusing the plant or factory buildings. 
Many an enterprising firm has made a business 
of this kind of photography. Architects' sketches 
and blue prints of buildings before their con- 
struction, are also convertible by the experi- 
enced artist into very fine wash drawings that 
give the actual impression of the finished build- 
ing before even the foundations are constructed. 
This work is always given to the artist who 
makes a special study of building construction 
as applied to illustration and the half-tone is 
generally the plate used for the reproduction 
of this type of work. 

The process used in the making of half-tones 
differs somewhat from that used for making 
line cuts (or zinc etchings) as described in the 
preceding chapter. After the half-tone negative 
has been developed, it is treated in the same 
manner as the negative for a zinc plate ; dried, 
stripped, reversed, remounted and so forth. It 
is then clamped en a sensitized plate of copper 
of a very fine grade. The negative and plate are 
now exposed to the arc lamps, as previously 
explained and the sensitized coating developed 
and made to adhere to the plate. The plate is 
then taken from the frame but is not inked as in 
the case of the zinc etching, as the sensitized 
coating itself offers a sufficient protection 

— •- Page Thirty-one •*— 



REPRODUCTION 



against the action of the acid in the places ex- 
posed to the light. The plate is now held over a 
flame and "burned in," thus giving all parts 
not to be etched, a hard enamel like surface 
which will effectually resist the acid solution. 
After the back of the plate has been coated with 
asphaltum varnish, it is placed in the etching 
solution, which, for copper plates is a solution 
of iron. Only one etching or "bite" is necessary 
instead of four, as in the case of zinc plates. 
After the first "bite" the plate is called a "flat 
half-tone," but the expensive part of the pro- 
cess is yet to be executed. Good half-tones re- 
quire a considerable amount of attention and 
hand work beyond the simple treatment in the 
acid solution and the engraver must spend a 
lot of time and skill to endow the cut with its 
capacity for printing. Advertisers should be- 
ware of the cut-rate half-tone maker, for in 
many instances, he will supply "flat half-tones," 
which will not print well. 

Half-tones of the coarser screen variety can 
be made on zinc. In fact, in the early days, zinc 
was the only metal used for plate making, but 
experience has shown that, though more diffi- 
cult to etch to the necessary depth, the closer, 
denser texture of copper is much better and more 
suitable for the production of half-tone plates. 

-*• Page Thirty-two •*- 



HALF-TONE ETCHINGS 

It is well to understand the different styles 
of finishing half-tone plates to be able to intel- 
ligently specify the style best suited for a given 
purpose. 

Unless otherwise specified, the ' 'square' ' fin- 
ish is furnished, that is, the screen surrounding 
the design or whatever it may be, is left intact. 
The cut may be square, oval or any other 
particular shape. 

A "lined half-tone" is edged with a fine black 
line around any of the previous shapes specified 
above. 

A "Vignetted half-tone" is etched so that the 
impression gradually fades away along the 
edges, leaving no distinct outline. 

On a "silhouette or outlined half-tone" the 
screen is entirely cut away from the design so 
that only the illustration prints. Some adver- 
tisers get confused between this and a vignetted 
plate, believing that when the screen surround- 
ing the design proper, is routed away, it is 
"vignetted." This is not so, they really infer 
silhouette or outlined plates. 

It seems that the chief difficulty experi- 
enced in the use of half-tones is that too much 
is expected of them in newspaper work. If we 
could only sit down and examine a half-tone 
plate under a magnifying glass, we should 

-*- Page Thirty-three ■*- 



REPRODUCTION 



then get a faint idea of its minute construc- 
tion. There are millions of tiny dots of differ- 
ent sizes, and each dot must print a clean 
sharp impression in order to get a faithful 
reproduction. Did you ever examine newspaper 
stock under a magnifying glass? Do so and 
you will wonder how a half-tone can print on it 
at all. Newspaper stock is the poorest that is 
used in printing, and there are slim chances 
of it getting any better. It is a wood pulp 
stock, yellow, blemished and porous and to 
add to these difficulties it is usually raced 
through the printing press. 

Never has the advertiser been faced with 
worse printing conditions in newspaper plants 
than at the present time and although there 
have been numerous suggestions advanced as 
to the standardization of newspaper printing 
methods, so that the advertiser could depend 
on certain definite results, we are afraid that 
these will never come to pass. 

Successful reproduction from half-tone 
plates is largely a matter of "make-ready;" 
that is the method the expert printer has of 
"building" the plate up with thicknesses of 
paper pasted on the underside. The printer 
can make certain parts of the picture light and 
others dark, at will. It requires time of course, 

-*■ Page Thirty-jour ■*- 




Highlight half-tone engraving. Screen purposely left on 
face and hat 



HALF-TONE ETCHINGS 

but the value of make-ready cannot be over- 
estimated. 

On certain high-class magazines, make- 
ready is practiced to some extent but the news- 
paper half-tone receives no such thoughtful 
attention. 

Close examination of the nature of a half- 
tone plate will convince the user that the 
printing surface of the paper must be reason- 
ably smooth. A half-tone plate must be given 
a fair, square, fighting chance. Line engrav- 
ings and all other forms of reproductive plates 
have their own troubles, but the half-tone 
seems to have more than its share. It is ex- 
pected to print on uncivilized paper in many 
cases. Who would think of trying to print a 
process color subject on news stock, yet these 
plates are practically the same as half-tones? 
Some advertisers may claim that they have 
been able to "get away with it" — sometimes, 
but such men have not used many different 
newspapers. 

The following are a few more reasons why 
the half-tone cannot be expected to print uni- 
formly or at all on newspaper stock. 

A plate may "go bad" due to a variety of 
reasons. 

Bad weather will affect ink and rollers. 

-*■ Page Thirty-five •*- 



REPRODUCT I ON 



Dampness will get into the pores of the 
stock. 

Dirt may clog the fine mesh of the plate 
at any time during the operation of the press. 

Ink cannot be kept uniform, it thickens and 
thins out unexpectedly. 

The plate very often loses considerably 
through electrotyping, especially when the 
newspaper does not take reasonable care in 
this department. 

Last, but not least, the speed at which the 
newspress runs is evidence enough. 

Ask some old timers how fine a screen to 
use for half-tones in newspapers. Ten chances 
to one they will say 65 is the limit. One expe- 
rienced engraver insists that a newspaper half- 
tone must be "brutalized." 

The trouble lies in the existing conditions 
of paper and production and the half-tone 
can't beat it. We doubt if it ever will. 



Page Thirty-six •*- 



CHAPTER V 

What an Advertiser and Artist 
Should Know About Half-tones 

By 
Gatchel & Manning, Inc. 

Philadelphia, Pa. 

A HALF block from our window sits a man 
producing the world's greatest weekly- 
one man. A half mile away sits another man 
who has been feeding the world with locomo- 
tives — one man. The possibilities of one man 
are limitless when his brain is supplemented by 
the brains and efforts of countless others — and 
when he can look on the work of those others 
and see that it is good. 

What should an advertiser and artist know 
about half-tones? Everything. 

He should know their possibilities and their 
limitations, for they have very definite limita- 
tions. He should know how they are made and 
how best to use them. He should know their 
history so he may aid in their development. A 
rather big order. We're dealing with a rather 
big man, for there is today and never has been 
a bigger man than the true advertiser and 
artist. 

-* Page Thirty-seven ■*- 



REPRODUCTION 



It would be foolish to try to really cover a 
big subject in the short stretch of this article. 
We can only emphasize what a monumental 
thing even the smallest half-tone dot really is. 

Photoengraving is a self descriptive term, 
easily understood. Half-tone is not so clear nor 
so accurate. 

The principle of the camera was early ap- 
plied to the making of drawings. In mediaeval 
times we find Porta using it in his sketches of 
the canals of Venice. But not until very re- 
cently, long after Daguerre used it for making 
portraits, was it applied to engraving, and then 
only for line engravings. 

Just what takes place when a sensitized plate 
is exposed to light and later developed, or 
rather why it takes place, most photographers 
admit is a mystery. But the same principle 
that governs the size of shutter and length of 
exposure logically developed the screen basis 
which today enables us to reproduce so-called 
half-tones. 

It is well for the advertiser and artist to re- 
member that half-tones, whether in one or 
many colors, are never reproductions but 
simply approximations. Line engravings are 
the only true reproductions and even they are 
more so in theory than in fact unless most care- 

-»■ Page Thirty-eight •*- 



HALF-TONES 



fully made under ideal conditions. A compari- 
son of a half-tone with the original from which 
it is made illustrates this quite clearly. The 
finer the screen the closer the approximation. 

A half-tone is made by the use of a ruled 
screen. These screens range from 60 to 200 
lines to the inch for general commercial uses 
and they are placed between the lens and the 
photographic plate which we are to make our 
negative. The idea is to break up the surface 
into different sized dots, as the various grada- 
tions of color in a drawing or photograph can- 
not be transferred by any method to a sheet 
of copper and etched. The various tones must 
be changed to either lines or dots so as to make 
a printing surface for the ink roller of the press 
to operate upon. The dots are of the varying 
sizes, ranging from a minute stipple to a solid 
black and present to the eye the same general 
effect as the unbroken tones of the copy. 

The nature of the half-tone plate made 
necessary a perfectly smooth surfaced paper 
on which it was to be printed. To secure this 
surface a "filled" or "coated" paper was de- 
veloped, usually by filling the surface with 
clay and glazing it. Most such papers of neces- 
sity crack when folded, and discolor and turn 
brittle as time passes. This is one reason why 

-*■ Page Thirty-nine +- 



REPRODUCTION 



many lovers of books dislike half-tone papers 
and use whenever possible antique finishes, 
hot pressing them for any half-tone illustra- 
tions required. However, this is far from neces- 
sary for ordinary commercial purposes, as 
every year sees an improvement in the print- 
ing possibilities of our standard papers, and a 
corresponding improvement in photoengrav- 
ing. 

Those of us who lived through the early 
days of photoengraving remember the tedious 
tooling that was done after the plate was made, 
tooling that put photoengravings in much the 
same class as wood cuts so far as actual hand 
work was concerned. Today just as careful 
attention is required to secure the finest en- 
gravings, but the reetching is now done to 
deepen some tones and lighten others. Conse- 
quently the main reason for half-tones, photo- 
graphic exactness, is preserved and emphas- 
ized rather than altered to suit the old time 
engraver's whim. 

When we say photographic exactness we 
have mentioned the main reason for the half- 
tone. While because of its screen nature the 
half-tone repeats but a portion of the copy 
from which it is taken, it repeats that portion 
with absolute fidelity. It is possible to trick the 

-+■ Page Forty ■*- 



HALF-TONES 



human eye. But you cannot trick the eye of 
the camera. Artists, for instance, must remem- 
ber that white, seemingly lost in mixing their 
colors, will be detected and brought out by the 
lens. It is therefore important for an artist in 
making wash drawings for half-tone reproduc- 
tion or in retouching photographs from which 
half-tones are wanted, to prepare his copy 
with the idea that a strong light before the lens 
of the photoengraving camera will detect and 
transfer to the negative those imperfections of 
color that are not detected by the eye. 

It is particularly noticeable that white 
affects the lens of the camera in whatever com- 
bination it may appear on the drawing or 
photograph and it will pull the white out to a 
much greater strength than it appears to the 
eye. 

Quite naturally the most important object 
is to produce a drawing that will please the 
artist, and as most half-tones are made for 
some commercial use, the customer. But in 
securing this pleasing result he must pay par- 
ticular attention to the photographic value of 
the color which he uses. Unfortunately, there 
is no rule which may be laid down to be faith- 
fully followed to produce copy for reproduc- 
tion, and after all it is the knowledge gained 

-*■ Page Forty-one •*— 



REPRODUCTION 



by experience which is going to be the most 
useful to the artist. The cleaner and purer the 
colors used the more apt is the reproduction 
to be faithful. As has already been hinted, the 
use of white is dangerous ; pure wash either in 
black or sepia should be used, letting the white 
paper serve as the high light and creating the 
shadows and deeper tones by repeated washes 
of the same color. Wherever white is used it 
must be remembered that the camera lens 
will pick it out in a value which cannot be 
detected by the eye. 

The method of making half-tone negatives 
precludes the possibility of positively securing 
the high lights and shadows correctly and still 
carrying all of the intermediate tones, and on 
that account it is necessary to have the half- 
tone negative through photography include 
all of the possible details with as much high 
light as possible. It is on this account that re- 
etching of the half-tone engraving on copper 
is necessary. It is also the reason that copy 
should be made with due regard to the photo- 
graphic value of the various tones. Anyone 
who is at all familiar with photography knows 
exactly what under or over exposure will do 
to your subject, and in half-tone reproduction 
the same principles apply. 

-h Page Forty-two +- 



HALF-TONES 



As it is necessary for the photoengraver to 
know the purpose for which the half-tone is to 
be used so that a proper screen may be used 
to properly print on the paper selected, so it 
is necessary for the artist to understand the 
purpose for which he is creating copy. Quite 
naturally in making a wash drawing for use on 
coarse paper a different treatment of detail 
would be given than copy which was to be 
printed on a highly enameled surface. The 
ordinary half-tone, of course, is useful for a 
reproduction where there are tones all the way 
from black down to the lightest gray as ap- 
plied to single color engraving. 

Of course, there are a great many different 
kinds of half-tone engravings, such as high 
light half-tones which are usually made from 
pencil or crayon copy and where the whites are 
usually dropped out, and the grays vignetted 
to nothing; and there are the double print 
half-tones where the negative is used in com- 
bination with another. Then, too, half-tone 
negatives are often used in combination with 
line negatives, but it would, of course, be im- 
possible in so short an article to go into the 
details of the various forms. 

Half-tones are also used to be printed in 
combination with the other where the three 

-*■ Page Forty-three •*- 






REPRODUCTION 



primary colors are used to secure the full color 
result. This process is known as the three- 
color process. Assuming that every color is 
some combination of yellow, red and blue, the 
problem is to make a half-tone printing plate 
for each of these three colors with the color 
values in the plate so that when the three are 
printed in exact register one over the other, 
the varying color values will blend so as to 
reproduce the original. 

One half-tone negative is made for each of 
the three colors. As in the case of a single color 
half-tone negative, the camera lens detects 
what tricks the eye. For instance, when the 
red negative is made a color filter is placed at 
the lens which separates from the colored 
drawing or painting, all of the red rays; i. e., 
the camera detects what is not obvious to the 
eye whether these rays be of pure red or any 
part of orange or purple or any of the other 
tones of which red may form a part. In like 
manner the yellow and blue plates are made 
through the proper color filter, their values 
being separated and transferred to the nega- 
tive. 

Four-color process plates are made in the 
same way, the fourth color usually being black. 

This seems entirely mechanical, but as a 

— «- Page Forty-four •*- 



HALF-TONES 



matter of fact, the result of color engravings 
depends upon the skill of the color engraver. 
Inasmuch as no pigments used in printing inks 
are absolutely pure, it is easily understandable 
how there will be a noticeable difference in the 
finished result when these various pigments 
are united. The result is usually only the basis 
for further development. 

The faithfulness of the reproduction of the 
color copy now depends upon the reetching. 
Here the manipulation of these negatives 
printed on sensitized copper makes possible 
the beautiful color printing results so familiar 
to us. 

As far as the artist is concerned in drawing 
colored copy, there is no definite rule which 
may be applied. The camera tells the truth and 
is always unsympathetic; it will always pick 
out the actual pigments of the various colors 
so if an artist applies a thin wash of another 
color over one which he has on his drawing 
which does not please him entirely, the unfail- 
ing camera lens will detect it. 

There are certain limitations, of course, to 
the color process work, the principal ones being 
that opposite qualities of the same color should 
not be used in the copy. If, for instance, in the 
same copy a cold, dark green is used and also 

—i- Page Forty-five *- 



REPRODUCTION 



a yellowish green, both of these greens cannot 
be produced with fidelity by photographic 
means. In such cases you can only hope for an 
approximation of the copy, and while a splen- 
did picture will likely result it is not always 
as faithful a reproduction as might be desired. 

If white has been mixed with a color used in 
copy the camera will detect it, and quite pos- 
sibly make impossible the proper use of the 
three-color process. 

The advertiser and the artist alike must 
both realize that photo-engraving, while a 
mechanical process, is only mechanical up to a 
certain point. This is particularly true of color 
reproduction. The human factor is after all 
what finally determines the final result. 

Every artist realizes that without photo- 
engraving his field for the use of his produc- 
tions by the advertiser would be quite limited. 
The advertiser realizes that without photo- 
engraving there would have to be quite differ- 
ent vehicles to carry his advertising messages 
to the American public than now exist. 

Contemplate for a moment the tremendous 
mass of informative, educational and recrea- 
tional publications which are so positively 
necessary to the thought and progress of the 
nation. Each publication vies with the other 

-•- Page Forty-six •«- 



HALF-TONES 



to secure from the reader the greatest possible 
attention so that the circulation may be 
builded to a maximum to benefit the adver- 
tiser who buys space in the columns of these 
great market places. Most every one will agree 
that every form of literature in quantity has 
put within the reach of the advertiser for the 
American public, illustrative means which 
reduce the cost of marketing and the conse- 
quent ultimate cost to the consumer. 

To an engraver there is much missing from 
this short survey of half-tone. Purposely it has 
kept away from any description savoring of 
the technical. The successful use of half-tone 
depends on the same things that success in any 
other line depends on : one man, knowing what 
he wants, and knowing when he gets it. 



-•- Page Forty-seven ■*- 



CHAPTER VI 
Woodcuts or Wood Engravings 

THIS is really the art of engraving on 
wood, by lines so cut that the design 
stands in relief. 

This method of engraving was historically 
the earliest, done for the purpose of making 
impressions upon paper or other material. It 
is natural that wood engraving should have 
occurred first to the primitive mind, because 
the manner in which wood cuts are printed is 
the most obvious of all the kinds of printing. 
If a block of wood is inked with a greasy ink 
and then pressed on a piece of paper, the ink 
from the block will be transferred at once to 
the paper. Now suppose that the simple 
Chinese who first discovered this was ingenious 
enough to go a step further. 1 1 would evidently 
occur to him that if one of the elaborate 
signs or characters, each of which signified a 
word or thought, was drawn upon the block 
of wood in reverse, and then the whole of the 
white wood cut away to leave the sign in re- 
lief, an image of it might be impressed on the 
paper much more quickly than the sign could 
be copied with a camel hair brush and ink. 

— •- Page Forty-nine ■*- 



REPRODUCTION 



No sooner had this experiment been tried and 
found to answer than block-printing developed 
and from the printing of signs to the printing 
of rude pictures of things exactly in the same 
manner, the step was so easy that it must have 
been made insensibly. 

Wood engraving, then, is really nothing but 
the enlarging or improving of that primitive 
block-cutting which prepared for the printer 
the letters in relief. The only difference be- 
tween the modern woodcut and the first rude 
Chinese letters, is a difference of artistic skill 
and scientific knowledge. 

The earliest wood engraving consisted of 
outlines and white spaces with smaller black 
spaces, cut with a knife, not with a graver, and 
shaded lines were rare or entirely absent. Be- 
fore passing to shaded and modern woodcuts 
we may mention a kind of wood engraving 
practiced in the middle of the 1 5 th century by 
a French engraver (often called Bernard Mil- 
net, though his name is a matter of doubt), 
and by other engravers probably a little earl- 
ier. This method is called the "crible," a 
word for which there is no convenient transla- 
tion in English, unless we call it ' 'drilled." It 
means riddled with small holes, as a target 
may be riddled with small shot. The effect of 

-+■ Page Fifty ■+- 



WOOD ENGRAV I NGS 

light and dark is produced in this kind of en- 
graving by sinking a great number of round 
holes of different diameters in the substance 
of the wood, which, of course, all come white 
in the printing. The effect produced is a sort 
of stippling in white. When a more advanced 
kind of wood engraving had become prevalent, 
the "crible" was no longer used for general 
purposes but it was retained for the back- 
grounds of decorative wood engraving, being 
used occasionally in borders for pages, in 
printers' marks and other designs, which were 
survivals in black and white of the ancient art 
of illuminating. Curiously enough, this kind 
of wood engraving, though long disused for 
purposes of art, was in recent times revived 
with excellent effect for scientific purposes, 
mainly as a method of illustration for astro- 
nomical books. The black given by the un- 
touched wooden block represents the night 
sky, and the holes, large or small, represent in 
white the stars and planets of greater or lesser 
magnitude. The process was perfectly adapted 
to this purpose being cheap, rapid and simple. 
It also has been used in a spasmodic and ex- 
perimental manner by one or two modern en- 
gravers. 

Early wood engraving was much more con- 

-*• Page Fifty-one •*- 



REPRODUCTION 



ventional than it has become in more recent 
times, and this very conventionalism enabled 
it to express that which it had to express, with 
greater decision and power. The wood en- 
gravers in those days were free from many 
difficult conditions which have hampered their 
modern successors. They did not care in the 
least about aerial perspective, and nobody ex- 
pected them to care about it. They did not 
trouble their minds about local color but gen- 
erally omitted it, sometimes however, giving 
it here and there, but only when it suited their 
fancy. As for light and shade, they shaded 
only when they wanted to give relief, but 
never worked out anything like a studied and 
balanced effect, nor did they feel any respon- 
sibility about the matter. What they really 
cared for and generally attained, was a firm, 
clear, simple kind of drawing, conventional in 
its indifference to the mystery of nature and to 
the poetic sentiment which comes to us from 
that mystery, but they were by no means in- 
different to facts of the decided and tangible 
kind. 

In recent years the position of wood engrav- 
ing has wholly changed. Up to 1880 and for a 
little while longer it was the chief means for 
illustrating books and newspapers and a fre- 

-+■ Page Fifty-two •*- 



WOOD ENGRAV I NGS 

quent method of fine art reproduction, but 
by the beginning of the twentieth century it 
had been almost entirely driven out of 
these fields by process work of various kinds. 
However, it still flourishes in its commoner 
style for commercial and mechanical work, and 
it is still occasionally maintained in its finest 
forms by some sympathetic publisher who de- 
plores and would arrest its decay. But the 
photograph and its facsimile reproduction 
have captivated the public who want illustra- 
tion and not art. The great body of the old- 
style wood engravers have therefore found 
their occupation entirely gone, while the 
minority have found themselves forced to de- 
vote their skill to retouching the process block, 
sometimes carrying their work so far that the 
print from the finished block is a close imita- 
tion of the old wood engraving. 

But the advantage of engraving by process 
is not solely due to considerations of economy. 
The apparent truthfulness claimed by the 
photograph over the artist's drawing is a fac- 
tor in the case, but the public is apt to forget 
that a photographic print shows us what an 
object or scene looks like to the undiscrimi- 
nating lens, rather than how it appears to the 
eyes of the spectator, who unconsciously se- 

-*- Page Fifty-three *- 



REPRODUCTION 



lects that part of the scene which he especially 
desires to see. The rank and file of the engrav- 
ers — even those who could "engrave" after a 
picture as well as "cut" a "special artist's" 
sketch — succumbed not only to the public, 
but to the artists themselves, who frequently 
insisted upon the process block for the trans- 
lation of their work. They preferred the greater 
truth of outline (though not necessarily of 
tone), which is yielded by process, to all the 
inherent charm of the beautiful (and expen- 
sive) art of xylography. 

This process woodcut can be used where 
long runs are necessary as the deep, angular 
grooves make it easy to produce any number 
of electrotypes, all of which are exact dupli- 
cates of the original cut. 

The chief value of the modern woodcut lies 
in its adaptability for use on cheap and thin 
paper stock and at the same time gives all de- 
tail necessary to illustrate certain articles. It 
may be easily and quickly printed on any 
quality of stock, and can be of the utmost 
value to the mail order house. Big issues of 
catalogues are now distributed, which show 
the use of woodcuts to a large or small degree 
by practically every department. They are 
quite satisfactory for illustrating nearly every 

-*- Page Fifty-four +- 



WOOD ENGRAV I NGS 

kind of merchandise except dainty materials 
(they have a tendency to be a little too stiff 
for this work) but on the other hand, they 
make excellent furniture cuts. The possibility 
of using light paper makes possible a saving 
in both stock and postage and this asset, 
combined with the printing value of the 
woodcut, has earned for it a worthy position 
in the field of reproduction. 



Page Fifty-five 




Showing the adaptability of the wood-cut to the fashion 
drawing. Courtesy of Dahl and Sinnott 

-*■ Page Fifty-six •*- 



CHAPTER VII 

Modern Wood Engravings 
and Their Purpose 

An essay by 

Dahl AND Sinnott 

Hartford, Conn. 

MANY methods are used for illustrating, 
each method being the most satisfac- 
tory in its own particular field, and every 
process is limited to its own sphere of useful- 
ness. 

The half-tone and other photo-mechanical 
processes are the most widely used. They are, 
however, often resorted to where some other 
process would be more advantageous. 

Wood engraving is recognized as having a 
distinctive place in modern commercial illus- 
trating, because of certain excellent qualities 
not found in engravings made by any other 
process. In recent years a keen appreciation 
of art and craftsmanship as applied to illus- 
trations, especially of commercial and me- 
chanical work, has made itself evident, in 
consequence of which, the demand for high- 
class wood engravings for catalogue work has 
been limited only by the scarcity of artists 

-»■ Page Fifty-seven •*- 



REPRODUCTION 



competent to execute it. Large catalogue 
houses have found the wood-cut to be the best 
and most economical medium for illustrating, 
where "long printing runs are required." 

Wood engravings are deeply cut, and can 
be used not only on highly finished papers, but 
on machine-finished papers or even rough- 
faced stocks as well. For this reason certain 
stocks are rendered available which heretofore 
were impractical to use. 

The Turkish boxwood has been found to be 
the most satisfactory material for the en- 
graver, as it is close grained and cleaves nicely 
at the point of the tool. The best quality is cut 
from trees over five hundred years old and 
which grow along the southern shore of the 
Black Sea. African and South American box- 
wood have been tried, but owing to their rapid 
growth in these moist countries, the wood is 
coarser grained, and therefore is not suitable 
for high-grade cuts. 

Printing is seldom done direct from a wood- 
cut, but is done from electrotypes made from 
the wood-cut, as the wood is not of the hard- 
ness to withstand over a thousand impressions 
without the fine lines becoming worn. 

The electrotypes made from the wood-cut 
original are exact duplicates, because of the 

-+ Page Fifty-eight •*- 




Specimens of wood engraving, by Dahl and Sinnott, 
Hartford, Conn. 



WOOD ENGRAV I NGS 

deep and open lines by which the wood-cut is 
produced. 

Different sized illustrations can be readily 
made from the proof of the wood-cut by repro- 
ducing them by the zinc or copper etching 
process, thus saving the expense of having 
entirely new wood engravings made for every 
size desired. 

The comparative expense of high-grade 
wood engravings is often less than that of 
half-tones, which require large and expensive 
drawings in order to correct the faults inci- 
dental to the process, by which the half-tone 
plate is produced. 

All that is necessary for the skilled wood 
engraver to use as copy is an ordinary plain 
photograph of the object to be illustrated, as 
the character, fine details and color scheme are 
developed during the process of engraving. 

In cases where large numbers of engravings 
are to be used in the catalogue, it is desirable 
for the engraver to work directly from the 
object, where that is possible, so that more 
faithful reproductions may be secured. 

Many concerns are at the present time 
using half-tones for their de luxe catalogues 
and wood or zinc cuts for printing on poorer 
grades of paper found in trade journals, etc., 

— *• Page Fifty-nine •*— 



REPRODUCTION 



whereas wood-cuts could be utilized for both 
the high-grade catalogues and for printing on 
ordinary stock. 

The skilled and experienced wood engraver 
can, with a few appropriate tools, produce any 
effect desired in an illustration. The wood-cut 
can properly be called a full-toned illustration, 
as the engraver has at his command a range of 
color from the solid black to the purest white 
with all the intermediate tones. He can also 
resort to a great variety of techniques, such as 
lines of various degrees of boldness and direc- 
tion, cross-lines or stipples which may be used 
to produce almost any conceivable effect. 

Accompanying this article are reproduced 
some examples of illustrations made by the 
modern wood-engraving process. Particular 
attention is called to the fine detail and the 
brilliant effects produced, and where it appears 
the wood engraver has succeeded in overcom- 
ing certain crudities long considered incidental 
to the old style wood-cut. The use of engrav- 
ing presents an unusual opportunity to lovers 
of craftsmanship, and advertisers who wish a 
pleasing and conspicuous novelty in illustra- 
ting. 



Page Sixty 




Specimens of wood engraving, by Dahl and Sinnott, 
Hartford, Conn. 



CHAPTER VIII 
Duplicating Plates 

HAVING digested the fundamental prin- 
ciples of the original plate making, we 
come to the point of duplicating them for long 
runs and hard usage. It is impractical to print 
large runs direct from type or original plates, 
because the metal is too soft to stand the wear. 
We must, therefore, resort to electrotypes, 
nickeltypes and the like, and we propose in 
this chapter to give an insight into the uses 
and methods of making such duplicates. 

Starting with the electrotype, its purpose is to 
reproduce original plates or type for actual 
printing purposes. Electrotypes as a rule should 
stand a run of one hundred thousand impres- 
sions, and the advertiser can base his needs on 
this figure. They are also used when several 
cuts of the same subject are required for sup- 
plying jobbers, retail merchants or other rep- 
resentatives with plates, or where the adver- 
tiser has to supply cuts to numerous publica- 
tions. Advertisements set by professional ad- 
setters must be electrotyped for the reason 
that the type cannot be taken away. In this 
event the work of electrotyping is taken care 

— *- Page Sixty-one ■•— 



REPRODUCTION 



of by the ad-setter who has as many electros 
made as instructed by the advertiser. 

Electrotypes made from zinc etchings and 
woodcuts are nearly as good for printing as the 
original plates, and are more durable. Although 
it is often done, an electro should not be made 
from an electro unless the original plate is not 
obtainable, because such electrotypes are not, 
as a rule, satisfactory. The original or master 
plate should always be used for electrotyping 
when obtainable. 

The principal methods used in making an 
electro are as follows. The first operation is 
the moulding of the original plate or type form 
in a mineral wax. Next, the surface of the mould 
which is to be copper-plated is polished with 
graphite by the "black leader" machine, and 
then the mould is placed in a bath consisting 
of blue vitriol, sulphuric acid and water, where 
it is subjected to an electric current. 

In this tank a large piece of copper is hung 
to the anode, or positive electric terminal, and 
the wax mould is suspended in the solution 
from the cathode, or negative electric terminal. 
By the action of an electric current passing 
from the anode to the cathode, through the 
solution or electrolyte, particles of copper are 
removed from the piece of copper and de- 

-+ Page Sixty-two •+- 



DUPLICATING PLATES 

posited upon the wax, thus forming a shell of 
copper on the wax mould. 

The time required for this action is from 
three to ten hours according to the thickness 
of the shell desired. The shell is now removed 
from the casing with hot water and washed 
with muriatic acid, after which strips of tin- 
foil are placed on the back. It is then put into 
a casting pan and placed over the metal pot, 
where the tin-foil is melted, backing-up the 
entire shell. Hot metal is then poured into the 
pan, thus forming the plate in a rough stage. 
The plate then goes to the finishing depart- 
ment where it is routed and trimmed down to 
the proper gauge and the printing surface is 
properly leveled. It is next polished and pre- 
pared for mounting. 

Electrotypes are mounted in three different 
ways, on wood, metal or on a patent base. 
Wood is generally used and is satisfactory for 
most purposes. However, for close register 
color work, or where great strength is required, 
a metal or patent base is more satisfactory, 
but of course, it is more expensive. 

Lead Moulded Electrotypes 

These plates are mostly used for the higher 
grades of color work, as they are stronger and 

-«- Page Sixty-three ■*- 



REPRODUCTION 



more durable than ordinary electrotypes. 
Some engravers claim that the printing qual- 
ities of a lead moulded electrotype are quite 
equal to those of the original plate. Fine screen 
half-tones should always be duplicated by this 
method. 

These plates are made by forcing sheet lead 
against the printing surface of the original 
plate so that the mould is made in this metal 
instead of in wax. This makes a sharp, clear 
negative impression. It requires, of course, 
heavy machinery capable of tremendous pres- 
sure, for from two to six hundred tons are ap- 
plied according to the size and subject. The 
electro shell also requires a different process 
from that employed in the making of an ordi- 
nary electrotype. 

It should be mentioned that lead-moulded 
electrotypes cannot be made from type mat- 
ter for the reason that type metal will not 
stand the great pressure. 

Steeltypes 

Steeltypes are superior to electrotypes in 
wearing quality and sharpness, and in fact 
they are more desirable in every respect, espe- 
cially for half-tones, where the screen must be 
preserved and the general feeling reproduced. 

-*- Page Sixty-four *- 



DUPLICATING PLATES 

They are not subject to the effects of colored 
inks as ordinary electrotypes are found to be 
and on this point alone they recommend them- 
selves to the exacting advertiser. 500,000 im- 
pressions is the approximate run. 

In making a steeltype, a deposit of steel 
is first made on the face of the mould, as the 
name implies. 

Nickeltypes 

Nickeltypes or nickel-plated electrotypes, 
for this is really what is meant by the term, 
are used for the express purpose of combating 
or preventing certain chemical actions that 
take place with some colored inks on the ordi- 
nary electrotypes. There are numerous inks 
that set up chemical action when they come 
in contact with copper, and the bad effect, 
which is unavoidable, is always blamed on the 
printer or paper man, whereas the correct plate 
should have been specified by the advertiser. 

Nickel plating will naturally add to the 
wearing quality of a plate and for this reason 
nickeltypes are used where the run is extra 
long. 

Stereotypes and the Matrix 

Where fine reproduction is not requested or 
required we find the stereotype. Of course it 

-*- Page Sixty-five •*- 



REPRODUCTION 



has its own purpose and its place in the field 
of advertising for when it comes to speed and 
low cost, this class of duplicating plate has 
many advantages. Its principal use is con- 
fined to distribution by manufacturers to their 
agents, jobbers and other representatives. 

In most cases, however, it is the matrix 
that is sent out to these agents, not the metal 
plate. 

Matrix. (In Latin, Womb). The word itself 
has something of a wide application, but it is 
chiefly used in the sense of a bed or enclosing 
mass in which something is shaped or formed. 
In the terms of reproduction it is used as mean- 
ing a mould of papier-mache in which a design 
or text matter is made in intaglio, and from 
which an impression is taken in relief. 

In making the matrix, the papier-mache is 
beaten or rolled upon the original plate, type 
or whatever is to be duplicated, while it is soft 
and in a pulpy condition, until an impression 
is obtained. The plate is then heated until the 
matrix is actually baked dry. It is then re- 
moved and filled with molten stereotype metal, 
which when cooled and removed from the 
matrix mould, is a fair duplicate of the original 
plate. With careful handling, about fifteen 
stereotypes can be made from a good matrix, 

-+ Page Sixty-six *- 



DUPLICATING PLATES 

but do not expect great things from this 
method. For type and line drawings which are 
not too fine, the stereotype will serve (remem- 
ber all newspaper matter is stereotyped), but 
a 65-line half-tone is easily the limit of the 
best matrix. This of course is the finest half- 
tone that should be used for newspaper work. 

Aluminum Types 

These are used for certain kinds of color 
work where hardness and wearing qualities of 
the metal combined with great acid resisting 
qualities are essential. 

Advertisers are required to send original 
half-tones to many of the best magazines and 
those of large circulation, not because they are 
used to print from, but in order that the maga- 
zine may make their own electrotypes. These 
originals are required in many cases so that the 
magazine may conform to their own standards 
of printing. Stippling and re-engraving is often 
necessary to put the plate in this printing con- 
dition. 

Line engravings and half-tones that have 
been under-cut in the etching, will not make 
electrotypes either by the wax or lead-mould 
process, and moreover no good stereotype can 
be made from such originals. 

— *■ Page Sixty-seven •*- 



REPRODUCTION 



Upon the quality of the original plate, de- 
pends the quality of any kind of electrotype, 
and the wearing quality of an electrotype de- 
pends on the same conditions governing the 
wearing quality of the original plate. 



Page Sixty-eight 



CHAPTER IX 

What an Advertiser and Artist 
Should Know About Electrotypes 

James R. Crowell 

Reilly Electrotype Co., Inc. 
New York City 

SOME time ago we had occasion to cir- 
cularize all the leading users of electro- 
types in New York City. This meant sending 
letters to about two thousand individuals and 
business concerns, and quite naturally the cor- 
respondence was heavy. 

When the answers began to come in we were 
amazed to find that so many persons have the 
erroneous impression that an electrotype is 
identical with a photoengraving. The strange 
part of this is that the mistake is common even 
among those whose business requirements call 
for the frequent use of both electrotypes and 
photoengravings. 

Even after these circular letters had been 
distributed we received orders for photoen- 
gravings. It seemed to be an appropriate time 
to familiarize these persons with the difference 
between the two articles, since it would be 
beneficial for everybody concerned — for the 

-t- Page Sixty-nine ■»- 



REPRODUCTION 



users, for the photoengravers and for us. We 
therefore wrote many letters explaining what 
this difference is. 

To those who make electrotypes and "think 
them," it is rather difficult to understand how 
any one could mistake an electrotype for a 
photoengraving. Nevertheless, it is apparent 
that many persons are under just such a mis- 
apprehension, and this fact has impelled us to 
preface this article with the question: "What 
is an electrotype?" 

An electrotype is a reproduction of type 
composition, a half-tone cut or a line cut. 
There are three main groups — steel-faced lead 
moulds, steel-faced wax moulds and copper- 
faced wax moulds. The advantage of the lead 
mould over the wax and of the steel-faced wax 
moulds over the copper-faced wax moulds is 
explained in detail later. 

As electrotypes were originally employed to 
facilitate printing and as printing is still the 
chief channel of their utility, we shall explain 
briefly what purpose they serve in this con- 
nection. 

When printing was in the early stages of its 
development, production was slow and tedious. 
Printers would set the type, lock it in forms, 
attach it to the presses and then run off the 

— n Page Seventy -»— 



ELECTROTYPES 



printed matter from the original type. This 
meant that the printed impressions could be 
obtained no more rapidly than it was possible 
for the type matter to strike the paper upon 
each operation of the press. And it must be 
remembered that there was just one impres- 
sion of the same text at a time. 

Subsequently printers evolved the idea of 
setting type in duplicate, so that a double im- 
pression could be obtained with a single oper- 
ation of the press. This saved time and de- 
creased the cost of press work, but greatly 
added to the cost of composition. The 
quest for more economical and swifter pro- 
duction resulted in the evolution of the 
electrotype. 

To-day type forms, including those which 
contain illustrations, are sent to the electro- 
type foundry for as many reproductions as 
may be required. In "long run" printing, such 
as that involved in the publication of a maga- 
zine which has a circulation running into the 
hundreds of thousands, the present system is 
to have two, three or four electrotypes of the 
same text made, the number depending upon 
the capacity of the press. If two electrotypes 
are used, it is referred to in the trade as "run- 
ning two up," if three are used, it is "three 

-»- Page Seventy-one ■*- 



REPRODUCTION 






up," etc. The more that are used the faster the 
production. 

It will be seen from this that without elec- 
trotypes the publication of national magazines 
and the printing of books, pamphlets, cata- 
logues, or similar material in large quantities 
would be virtually out of the question. Elec- 
trotypes are the same to such classes of print- 
ing as stereotypes are to the newspapers. You 
have undoubtedly seen the presses of a modern 
newspaper at work and observed the rapidity 
with which copies of the paper pour from the 
press. Perhaps you have observed further that 
the printing was done by means of curved 
plates which are adjusted on cylinders and 
come in contact with the paper as the cylin- 
ders revolved. Magazine printing is done in 
much the same way with the exception that 
the operation is not so rapid. 

We have given this brief outline of the appli- 
cation of electrotypes to printing because there 
are some basic facts that must be understood 
before it is possible to grasp the technical 
points of plate-making. But as this article is 
addressed primarily to advertisers and artists, 
we shall go into greater detail regarding the 
relation of electrotypes to those professions. 
Undoubtedly quite a few of our readers already 

— t- Page Seventy-two ■*- 



ELECTROTYPES 



have a comprehensive knowledge of the sub- 
ject and to them it may appear that we are 
giving too much heed to the elementals of the 
industry. To them we can merely say that we 
have taken the premise that all our readers 
are entirely unfamiliar with the subject. We 
therefore ask the indulgence of those who have 
a partial or thorough knowledge of electro- 
typing. 

It should be understood that when we refer 
to advertisers, we use the word in its broadest 
sense. By advertisers we mean individuals and 
corporations which handle their advertising 
directly, advertising agencies, commercial ar- 
tists and advertising service companies. Many 
of these are such extensive buyers of the 
mechanical commodities used in advertising 
that they maintain special departments to 
supervise the ordering. The heads of these 
departments are known as production mana- 
gers and they have or should have a thorough 
knowledge of printing and the allied trades. 
They know what to order and how to order 
and they form an indispensable liaison between 
the producer of copy and the producer of the 
manufactured article. 

There are so many different kinds of elec- 
trotypes and so much chance to 4 go wrong" 

-*■ Page Seventy-three ■*- 



REPRODUCTION 



in ordering them that it becomes extremely 
profitable for users to acquire all the informa- 
tion possible. It may save needless expense. It 
will certainly save time and it will also enable 
the purchaser to discuss his own needs intel- 
ligently and to place his order in a manner 
that will insure the best results and the 
promptest service. 

In the electrotype trade, as in virtually 
every other business, the three dominating 
factors are quality, service and price. It would 
scarcely be possible to place them in their 
relative order of importance, for one is just as 
vital as the other, depending upon the needs 
of the buyer. Take service, for example. 
There are times when advertisers must have 
their work done in the utmost haste that they 
may catch certain issues of magazines or news- 
papers. 

The value of service at such times super- 
sedes the question of price. Quality is essen- 
tial always. Price is a question that interests 
every wide-awake business man. 

In the old pre-electrotype days when adver- 
tisers wished to conduct national campaigns, 
it was necessary for them to send printed 
proofs of their ads. to the various mediums 
with instructions to the composing rooms to 

— *• Page Seventy-four +- 



ELECTROTYPES 



follow the style as nearly as possible. Illus- 
trated national advertising was virtually out 
of the question in those days, for it would 
have been financially ruinous to the advertiser 
to furnish each newspaper with an original 
photoengraving cut. Neither was there any 
standardization to the advertisements, while 
the opportunity for errors was a stalking 
spectre that always rose up to stare the adver- 
tiser in the eyes. 

Electrotypes have simplified national ad- 
vertising just as they have made possible the 
printing t>f magazines, catalogues, etc., on a 
huge scale. To-day the advertiser has his copy 
set by a printer who specializes in that class 
of work. When it has been revised to the ulti- 
mate dotting of an "i, the type is "locked up 
for foundry" and sent to the electrotyper. 
"Locking up" means encasing the type and 
cuts, if there are any, securely in a chase, or 
metal frame, with type high metal guards 
adjusted close to the type or cuts. These guards 
are known as "bearers" and their usefulness 
is the protection of the sides of the type and 
cuts when the impression in wax is taken. 
They also serve' as a protection in the subse- 
quent processes. 

We shall not attempt to describe the twenty- 

-H- Page Seventy-five •*- 



REPRODUCTION 



six or more operations through which an 
electrotype passes in the making. To do so 
would involve the reader in a mass of techni- 
cal matter, and it is doubtful whether he could 
gain a really comprehensive knowledge of the 
subject except through diligent study of a text 
book. A far better expedient for those who 
wish to know the various mechanical phases 
would be to spend an hour or two in a foundry 
and actually see the work done. 

Regarding the extreme technical phases of 
the trade, it is sufficient to say that all elec- 
trotypes except lead moulds are made by 
moulding the original in wax. The wax im- 
pression is referred to as a case and it goes 
through various operations of cutting down 
and building up, of black leading for oxidizing, 
of oxidizing and of immersion in an electric 
bath. The latter process takes two hours or 
more and it is in the course of it that the cop- 
per or steel is deposited on the wax. 

When the case is removed from the bath it 
contains a metal film, known as the shell. This 
film, which is the exact reproduction of the 
original, is then released from the case by 
means of hot water. Soldering fluid is poured 
on to the back of the shell and a sheet of tin- 
foil is laid over. It is then placed in a "backing 

-*■ Page Seventy-six ■*- 



ELECTROTYPES 



pan" and transferred to a metal pot, where 
it is left until the tinfoil melts. When the 
molten lead is poured over, the metal tin foil 
serves as an amalgamator and there is created 
for the shell a solid back of varying thickness 
depending upon the purpose which the plate 
is to serve. Usually the back is about % of an 
inch thick. Cooling off the cast, scrubbing, 
cleaning and sawing away the dead metal are 
the succeeding operations. The cast is then 
sent to the finishing room, where it goes 
through various other operations. No plate 
is permitted to leave the finishing room until 
it has been properly revised. Sometimes 
defects are found which cannot be obliterated 
by the finisher and the plate is then destroyed. 
In such instances it is entirely remade. 

In filling an order for newspaper quantity 
electrotypes the first step is the manufacture 
of a pattern plate. The pattern is a master 
electrotype obtained in the usual manner of 
moulding the original form in wax. It is fin- 
ished with the utmost care and in its com- 
pleted form it is the exact prototype of the 
original. As many patterns are made as may 
be necessary to fill the advertiser's order expe- 
ditiously. If he should require, say, five hun- 
dred of the same subject in a great hurry, it 

-+ Page Seventy-seven •*— 



REPRODUCTION 



might be determined that ten patterns would 
be needed. That would mean one of two 
things — either the patterns would be arranged 
so that ten wax impressions would be obtained 
in each moulding or, should the plate be of 
such size that only two or three could be in- 
corporated in the case, the patterns would be 
separated and worked on different moulding 
machines. 

The rapidity with which newspaper elec- 
trotypes may be turned out depends entirely 
upon the mechanical equipment of the foun- 
dry and the skill of the workers. Of course it 
should be remembered that the allowance of a 
reasonable amount of time is not only a safe- 
guard against errors, but also insures properly 
made plates. When so much thought and time 
and money are spent in the preparation of 
copy it is vital that the whole effect should 
not be spoiled by poor printing. We should 
not attempt to estimate the relation of good 
printing to the entire effectiveness of a com- 
pelling advertisement, but there is no denying 
that it is a highly important factor. 

Advertisers will do well by bearing in mind 
one great fundamental truth about electro- 
types. That there is nothing in the printing 
trade more shoddy than a shoddy electrotype. 

-*• Page Seventy-eight ■*- 



ELECTROTYPES 



Nothing is easier to obtain. The makers of 
shoddy electrotypes have tried to educate 
everybody to believe that all electrotypes are 
identical. For them such propaganda is "good 
business." For you, if you believe it, it is ex- 
tremely bad business. 

It is the advertiser's keen appreciation of 
the fact that clean, sharp printing enhances 
the value of his advertisement which causes 
him to give decided preference to electrotypes 
over stereotypes or mats. As this brings up one 
of the most acute questions which confront 
the advertiser in the selection of his mechani- 
cal paraphernalia, we shall give a precise ex- 
planation of the reasons why electrotypes are 
so superior to the other two. And as we are 
extensive producers of stereotypes and mats, 
we believe it will be realized that we are in an 
exceptional position to observe the different 
printing qualities and to pass judgment on 
their relative merits. 

Since the usefulness of stereotypes and mats 
is limited almost exclusively to newspaper re- 
production, it will be understood that the 
contrast between them and electrotypes is 
drawn only in respect to newspaper work. For 
the finer printing effects, such as catalogue and 
periodical work, stereotypes and mats are 

-+ Page Seventy-nine ■*- 



REPRODUCTION 



entirely out of the question. A stereotype has 
neither the durability nor finish to permit its 
use in printing of the better class. In half-tone 
reproduction a 65 screen is about all that it 
will stand. But no matter how coarse the 
screen, it is never the same faithful reproduc- 
tion that an electrotype is for the simple 
reason that it is mechanically impossible for 
it to be. 

The difference between a mat and a stereo- 
type is that a stereotype is just one step fur- 
ther toward the ultimate printing than is a 
mat. A mat is a reproduction of type composi- 
tion or cut in the form of a mould made in 
specially prepared paper. A stereotype is a 
lead cast from the mat. Mats are sent only to 
newspaper offices which have casting appara- 
tus. Stereotypes are sent to offices which are 
not thus equipped, but which use the stereo- 
type itself as the printing plate. When mats 
are sent, the newspaper casts the stereotype 
from it and puts it in a form along with other 
type matter. The entire page is then moulded 
into one large mat and from this a curved 
stereotype is made. The latter is the final 
printing plate and is attached to the cylinders 
of the newspaper press. 

It will be seen from this that the same com- 

-*■ Page Eighty +~ 



ELECTROTYPES 



parison which can be drawn between electro- 
types and stereotypes, can also be drawn be- 
tween electrotypes and mats. 

It is obvious that every time a reproduction 
gets further away from the original, it is bound 
to lose some of its sharpness. A stereotype or 
mat is just two processes further removed 
from the original than is the electrotype. Let 
us describe the course through which each 
passes and this will become perfectly plain. 
We will first follow the advertisement that 
reaches the printed newspaper by way of the 
mat. The six mechanical processes, given in 
their proper order of sequence, are as follows: 

Original — electrotype — mat — stereotype 
— mat — stereotype . 

If an electrotype is used, the mechanical 
processes would be four in number, as follows : 

Original — electrotype — mat — stereotype. 

Now we will follow the advertisement that 
goes to the newspaper which prints directly 
from flat-bed presses, usually the country 
weekly which cannot handle the mat because 
it has no facilities for casting. If a stereotype 
is used the processes are : 

Original — electrotype — mat — stereotype. 

If an electrotype is used the processes are : 

Original — electrotype. 

-*■ Page Eighty-one •*- 



REPRODUCTION 



In making electrotypes, hundreds of tons of 
pressure are used to force the impression of the 
original into the wax or lead moulds. In mak- 
ing stereotypes there is no pressure used to 
obtain the impression, but the molten lead is 
allowed to settle over the surface of the mat 
on its own weight. Thus it will be seen that 
electrotypes are not only much sharper plates, 
but they are also two processes nearer to the 
original and always the next thing to the original, 
except of course, when the newspaper uses the 
original itself. 

In deciding between electrotypes and stereo- 
types, the newspaper advertiser, therefore, has 
only one real question to consider. Electro- 
types are a faithful reproduction of the original 
and vitalize the printing. Stereotypes are in- 
capable of giving the same results, but they 
are cheaper. 

To understand exactly when stereotypes or 
mats may be used as substitutes for electro- 
types it is necessary to have had an intimate 
experience and to have visualized the differ- 
ence in the printing qualities. That is the 
reason why advertising agencies maintain pro- 
duction departments headed by men who have 
specialized for years in ordering this material. 
They know precisely when it is the part of 

-*■ Page Eighty-two ■*- 



ELECTROTYPES 



wise economy to use stereotypes and mats in 
place of electrotypes. 

In a general way production managers 
should observe the following rules when plac- 
ing orders for newspaper material. 

Order Electrotypes For 

All advertisements containing half-tone. 

All advertisements which are to be inserted 
in more than one issue of the newspaper. 

All advertisements containing fine detail 
work which must be sharply printed. 

All advertisements containing a large 
amount of open or white space. 

All advertisements sent to newspapers which 
print directly from flat-bed presses and which 
have a run of more than 20,000. 

Order Stereotypes For 

"One insertion" advertisements which do 
not contain half-tone. 

"One insertion" advertisements from plain 
type. 

Order Mats For 

Advertisements of the kind described in the 
stereotype group, but only when they are to 
be published by newspapers equipped with 
mechanical facilities for casting stereotypes 

-+- Page Eighty-three +- 



REPRODUCTION 



from mats. The majority of weekly and coun- 
try papers are not thus equipped. 

Do Not Order Stereotypes For 

Advertisements containing half-tone. 

Advertisements containing fine detail work 
which must be printed sharply. 

Advertisements containing especially small- 
face type. 

Advertisements containing a large amount 
of open or white space. 

Advertisements to be published by news- 
papers which print directly from flat-bed 
presses and which have a run of more than 
20,000. 

Do Not Order Mats For 

Advertisements to be published by news- 
papers which have no facilities for casting 
stereotypes. 

Advertisements of the kind described in the 
stereotype "don't list." 

The great majority of advertisers never use 
stereotypes or mats, but prefer to pay the addi- 
tional cost of electrotypes for the reason that 
they are then certain of getting the best print- 
ing qualities. These buyers figure that the 
plate cost is after all such a small part of the 

-•- Page Eighty-four +- 



ELECTROTYPES 



whole, it is better economy to obtain the best 
the market affords. 

We shall now take up the three other kinds 
of electrotypes used by advertisers for pur- 
poses other than newspaper printing. These 
are steel-faced lead moulds, steel-faced wax 
moulds and copper- faced wax moulds. It is 
the latter variety of electrotype which is used 
for newspaper quantity work, but a different 
finish is required when a copper- faced plate is 
made for pamphlet, catalogue or magazine 
printing. Purchasers may easily guard against 
error by indicating on purchase order whether 
a "newspaper electrotype" or a "pattern 
plate" or a "printing plate" is wanted. These 
words have a definite meaning in an electro- 
type plant and furnish the key to the manner 
of manufacture. It is not only advisable, but 
extremely necessary that the description be 
written on the purchase order. 

Lead moulds are an expression of the high- 
est form of plate making. The original from 
which the impression is taken is either a copper 
photoengraving cut or a pattern electro on 
which there has been deposited a double 
veneer of steel to give it the necessary strength 
to withstand the great pressure of the mould- 
ing machine, 800 to 2,000 tons. It is inadvis- 

-*■ Page Eighty-five *- 



REPRODUCTION 



able to employ zinc photoengraving cuts for 
making lead moulds. Aside from the fact that 
they do not possess the strength of copper and 
are likely to be crushed, it frequently happens 
that the dots are undercut, making it difficult 
or impossible to release the mould. 

The impression is taken in a sheet of chemi- 
cally pure lead and the reproduction thus 
obtained is the exact prototype of the original 
— such a precise copy of it, in fact, that the 
most expert eye cannot discern the difference. 

It is impossible to make lead moulds from 
type, but not of type. When type reproduc- 
tions are required it is done by making what 
is known as a combination plate. A wax mould 
of the type matter is first made and cut down 
to a point below the shoulder of the type. In 
the manufacture of the shell, a double thick- 
ness of steel is deposited and an especially hard 
metal is used in the backing up. This cast is 
then run down to a 16 gauge thickness, which 
is the same as the thickness of the original 
copper cut, with which it is made up into a 
pattern plate. The moulding in lead follows. 
The entire process is known in the trade as 
patching and making up. 

As to when it is proper to order lead moulds, 
the following summary may be used as a guide. 

-+ Page Eighty-six ■*- 



ELECTROTYPES 



Order Lead Moulds For 

All reproductions of color plates. 

All reproductions of cuts consisting of 133 
screen or finer. 

All magazine advertisements containing 
color work or half-tone. 

All high-class catalog and pamphlet pages 
containing color work or half-tone. 

We find it extremely difficult to suggest any 
set formula to assist advertisers in determin- 
ing when to choose between steel and copper 
as a facing for electrotypes. It may simply be 
said that with all things equal, the life of steel 
is about two-thirds greater than that of copper, 
and from this point on it devolves upon the 
advertiser to use his own discretion. We shall, 
however, elucidate some points which should 
assist him in deciding. 

When printing is to be done on any paper of 
hard fibre, such as bond, it is certainly essen- 
tial that steel-faced plates be ordered. Indeed, 
when an especially heavy bond paper is to be 
used, the most practical course would be for 
the purchaser to get into communication with 
his electrotyper and acquaint him with that 
fact. In such circumstances a steel shell and 
metal back of great strength would be turned 

-•■ Page Eighty-seven •*- 



REPRODUCTION 



out that the plate would survive the hard 
usage to which it would be subjected. 

Careful make-ready of the printing press 
will prolong the life of any electrotype, 
whether it be steel or. copper. If, for example, 
the rollers are low, there is bound to be a con- 
stant friction on the edges that will wear the 
plate down and eventually mar the printing. 

A copper plate may survive only 30,000 im- 
pressions; again it may still be good after 
175,000. A steel plate may collapse after 
100,000 impressions; again it may be in ex- 
cellent condition after 600,000. From which it 
will be seen there is no definite standard for 
determining their life. The texture of the 
paper, the quality of the electrotype itself and 
the usage which it receives in the printing 
office are the determining factors. 

In conclusion we wish to emphasize two 
vital points. 1 — Poor printing of your adver- 
tisement may spoil its entire effectiveness. 
Avoid patent "plates" which are put upon 
the market from time to time, only to vanish 
when confiding buyers have seen the light. 



Page Eighty-eight-*- 



CHAPTER X 
Rotogravure Process Printing 

IT was only six years ago that the first adver- 
tisement ever printed by the rotogravure 
process in this country, appeared in a New 
York newspaper, and it was a very small one 
at that — about forty lines. How times have 
changed! It only needs a glance through one 
of our Sunday papers to see how extensively 
the rotogravure process is used by advertisers, 
both local and national. 

The art possibilities of rotogravure repro- 
tion seem to be the biggest phase of the sub- 
ject as applied to advertising, but whatever 
has been done in the past, although a tribute 
to the enterprise, by no means indicates the 
extent of its future achievements and value. 

That rotogravure will create a number of 
new and original uses for itself is evident and 
it seems to be generally admitted that it will 
take its place alongside printing and lithog- 
raphy for every purpose where these two 
processes are now employed. 

If the word rotogravure were explained by 
its derivatives it would mean "roto," a roll, 
and "gravure," engraving, but this would not 

-+- Page Eighty-nine •*- 



REPRODUCTION 



adequately explain the process. Rotogravure 
is a process that necessitates an intaglio cylin- 
der plate, a plate in which the printing surface 
is sunk below the surrounding portions, the 
lines or dots being pressed, cut or bitten into 
the surface holding the ink, which is to be 
impressed upon the paper. The old-fashioned 
steel engraving may be taken as the style of 
intaglio plate, in which the lines that printed 
were cut into the surface of the plate, instead 
of being left standing in relief; in other words, 
while the half-tone screen is mostly transpar- 
ent, the rotogravure screen is mainly opaque. 

We must credit what is known as the Rem- 
brandt method as being the first to adopt this 
process of printing from engraved intaglio 
plates by a rotary machine. It was really an 
advance from photogravure, which was print- 
ing from a flat intaglio plate by a very slow 
hand process, yielding only about 700 prints 
from a plate. Now it is interesting to watch a 
modern machine pull about 3,500 impressions 
an hour. 

Reproduction in one color seems to be rep- 
resented at its present zenith by this process, 
for no commercial method of reproduction by 
mechanical means possesses the same power 
and quality and probably barring the Offset 

— h Page Ninety •*- 



ROTOGRAVURE PRINTING 

Process, it is the nearest approach to a fac- 
simile reproduction that has yet been arrived 
at. Contrasts, more brilliant high lights, deeper 
shades and depth are expressive characteris- 
tics. Some of the most widely advertised 
products are found among the adherents to 
this method of display. Yeast, underwear, 
veils, toothpaste, coffee, toilet articles, talking 
machines, stationery, cigarettes, chocolates, 
and ready-made houses, are only a few of the 
different advertisements to be found in the 
rotogravure section of any newspaper. This 
process actually opened up new fields of adver- 
tising expression, enabling the advertiser to 
reproduce numerous lines of merchandise here- 
tofore neglected because of the inadequate 
possibilities of newsprint, either by line or by 
coarse half-tone. We have in mind, particularly, 
fabrics, garments, furs, undergarments, silks, 
etc. One of the most remarkable feats of the 
process is its ability to render reproductions of 
full color paintings in a way hitherto un- 
equalled by any other printing method, due 
chiefly to the quality of the ink used and the 
tendency the method has of intensifying con- 
trast. 

So much for the good points of rotogravure, 
and there do not seem to be many bad ones, 

-+• Page Ninety-one •*- 



REPRODUCTI ON 



but like every good thing, it can be overdone or 
misused. One thing to be guarded against is 
the fact that this process is purely a mode of 
expression for the artistic side of advertising. 
It is not as successful if used for reading mat- 
ter or type display, and when the advertiser 
misuses the process in this respect the result 
is no improvement, in fact very often it is not 
as effective as the older methods. The copy or 
text should be as short and concise as possible 
and the type used should be of uniform body, 
and of plain, simple characters, avoiding re- 
versed text and copy that wanders over part 
of the illustration. 

It is always interesting to know who is 
directly responsible for methods and improve- 
ments in any line of endeavor. After much re- 
search it seems evident that more than one 
person is credited with the invention of the 
process for printing from intaglio plates. 

The names of Rousillon, Goupil, Sir Joseph 
Swan and Karl Klietsch, all seem to bear evi- 
dence of their association in a more or less 
credited degree for introducing and perfecting 
the process. We think that Klietsch is gener- 
ally given more of the credit, probably for the 
fact that he expended tremendous effort in 
making it a thoroughly practical process. 

-+ Page Ninety-two •*- 



ROTOGRAVURE PRINTING 

Klietsch was born in Bohemia in 1841, which 
was at that time a part of Austria-Hungary. 
We are told that he was the son of a chemist, 
but his ambition was the reproduction of pic- 
tures by printing. His early training as a 
chemist evidently helped him in his studies 
and to familiarize himself with the various 
branches of his profession, he studied photog- 
raphy and art. 

In 1875 Klietsch is actually credited with 
perfecting the process of photogravure and a 
few years later in the city of Lancaster, Eng- 
land, he worked out the first practical details 
of rotogravure. This occurred about 1880, and 
the company that was organized to utilize the 
process for commercial purposes is still in ex- 
istence in Lancaster. Some may ask if news- 
paper rotogravure sections started at that 
time, but as far as records show they did not. 
The company was engaged in printing artistic 
books and art subjects which gained wide at- 
tention, because of the wonderful results 
obtained. 

It was not until 191 1 , thirty-one years later, 
that the first rotogravure work made its ap- 
pearance in this country. This was probably 
due to several reasons, chief of which were the 
difficulties experienced in obtaining the proper 

-•■ Page Ninety-three +- 



REPRODUCT ION 



machinery, ink and paper, as well as the lack 
of trained workers. But rotogravure has come 
to stay and it has reached a high stage of de- 
velopment. Only the future will reveal the vast 
possibilities of the process. There is every sign 
that multi-color rotogravure will soon make 
its bow in public and when this happens, note 
some real competition between it and the more 
general photoengraving. After all, competi- 
tion is what we want ; it's another mother of 
invention or advancement. 

Another interesting feature of any process is 
the cost. Rotogravure is not expensive if used 
on large runs of 75,000 or more, but for quan- 
tities of less than 50,000, the price will un- 
doubtedly be high. So you see that the price 
depends chiefly on the length of the runs. 
Then, too, there might be considerable costly 
retouching on a page, or the advertiser may 
specify, unknowingly, technical difficulties 
which the printer is compelled to charge extra 
for. You will note that we say printer, not en- 
graver, for it should be remembered that no 
such thing as a line cut, half-tone, electro- 
type, or mat enters into this process. When 
the drawing is O. K. the advertiser passes it 
on to the printer, who looks after the whole 
thing. He is both engraver and printer and, 

-»■ Page Ninety-four •*- 



ROTOGRAVURE PRINTING 

like the lithographer, he has no composing 
room and no proof department, so do not look 
for proofs when your work is produced by this 
process. 

And now how is it all done? Some like to 
know. The drawing, photograph or whatever 
kind of "copy" it may be, is first photographed 
and the negative retouched. From the nega- 
tive is made a positive which in turn is again 
retouched if necessary. This is now printed on 
sensitized carbon paper upon which the screen 
is already printed. The carbon paper is then 
squeezed on a cylinder, which is afterwards 
etched with acid. The cylinder's outer surface 
is first coated with copper by electroplating it. 
Copper plating this cylinder is part of the en- 
graving process and is done right in the same 
plant. The reproductions on the copper cylin- 
der, if viewed through a magnifying lens, have 
depressions or cavities of varying depths, un- 
like half-tone plates, whose surfaces are made 
up of many small projections or dots. The 
screen used in this process, instead of repro- 
ducing light and heavy dots, makes cavities or 
depressions, some shallow and others deep. 
The varying depths of these cavities made it 
possible to obtain so many different tones by 
this process. The ink settles into the hollows 

-*■ PageZNinety-five ■*- 



REPRODUCTION 



and when the plate is brought in contact with 
the paper, the ink is lifted out of the cavities 
and is carried away on the paper according to 
the amount of ink in the cavity. The deeper 
the cavity, the more intense are the shadows, 
because of the greater amount of ink carried 
away, and vice versa. 

The printing is the simplest part, as there 
is no make-ready to bother with, as in the 
other more common forms of printing. The 
copper cylinders, for there are two of them, in 
order to print both sides of the paper at the 
same time, are now placed on the press just 
above a trough of special rotogravure ink, 
which is much more fluid than ordinary print- 
ing ink. As the cylinders revolve and emerge 
from the ink, a knife or "doctor," which works 
back and forth, scrapes the surface of the cylin- 
der clean of ink, and leaves it only in the cavi- 
ties. At a speed ranging from 3,000 to 3,500 
impressions per hour (not so fast considering 
that some newspaper presses shoot out 1 50,000 
copies per hour) , the paper passes between the 
engraved cylinder and a heavy iron cylinder 
coated with rubber. The rubber-coated cylin- 
der presses the paper into the cavities, and the 
ink is carried away as previously stated, the 
result being a rotogravure reproduction. 

-t- Page Ninety-six •*- 




Rotogravure Printing. Courtesy Neo-Gravure Printing 
Co., Inc. 



-*■ Page Ninety-seven 



CHAPTER XI 
How Rotogravure Pictures Are Made 

Neo-Gravure Printing Co. 

New York City 

(Covered by book copyright) 

SINCE nearly all the Sunday newspapers 
and many magazines throughout the 
country have either supplements or inserts 
printed by the rotogravure process, a descrip- 
tion of how this is done will be of interest. It 
is the latest and most valuable application of 
photography to printing, so far as artistic re- 
sults are concerned, and by it a web of paper 
can be printed from a copper cylinder at high 
speed. 

The following article will give, we hope, a 
description of the process in a simple manner. 

"Photographing the Original Subject" 

The first stage of the process is the making 
of the photographic negative from the original 
drawing of photograph. (Fig. i.) This nega- 
tive is made as clear as possible, because upon 
its success depends the quality of the positive 
made from it, and the success of the subse- 
quent operations. Great care is taken in re- 

-*• Page Ninety-nine *- 



REPRODUCTION 



touching the negative as well as the positive. 
(Fig. 2.) This consists not only in adding 
shades to the negative by working over the 
varnished or ground film with soft lead pen- 
cils, but in removing shades by scraping with 
a sharp knife on the positive. 

One of the interesting developments of this 
rotogravure studio is a giant camera, probably 
one of the largest in the world. Upon seeing 
this camera you would not recognize it as 
such, unless its mysteries were explained. It is 
unlike the usual type of camera with which we 
are all familiar. There are no bellows at all, 
but, instead, a large room is substituted, which 
has been finished in a dead black paint. 
A huge plate and film holder slides along on 
a bed or table in the room so as to be readily 
focused. A hole about a foot square has been 
cut in the front wall of the room, and in this 
the lens is fitted. The panel covering this hole 
may be quickly released and different lenses 
inserted to suit the work in hand. Outside the 
room and directly in front of the lens there is 
a second bed or rack on which the copy carrier 
slides. This carrier consists of a large vertical 
frame or panel on which the art work (photo- 
graph, painting, etc.) can be secured. The 
giant camera is, of course, used only for large 

-*• Page One Hundred +- 




NOTE: WHITE 

ON THE 
ORIGINAL ARE 

black Mcoe 




1- ORIGINAL COPY SUCH AS PHOTO. 
PAINTING, ETC, IS FIRST PHOTOORAPhEO 

on sensitized fiimi 



ciati ai*e» fo»>M 

LAlOOVtH'eOlTORS 
LAYOUT ON PAPCR 



^| 1/1 '/'/////// ////« 



1. THE DEVELOPED 
"NEGATIVE" FILM FROM 
THE CAMERA THI6IS 
RETOUCHED 8V ARTISTS 



A - THE FORM 13 
LAYED OUT- THE 
POSITIVE FILMS ARE 
LAID ON A GLASS 
PLATE ANO HELD 
ACCURATELY IN 
PLACE WITH GUM 
PAPER 




Descriptive pictures of the Rotogravure Process, by the 
courtesy of The Science and Invention Magazine 



-*• Page One Hundred and One •*- 



HERE A SECOND 




7.- CARBON TISSUE PUT AROyNO 
COPPER CYLINP6R VW6T, IMAGl 




I. COPPfPCyilNOER 
IS NOW ETCHEO-IN ACfO 
BATH AND IMAGES BECOME 
POSITIVE" AS SiSN 



8. CVLINOER AND TISSUE IS 
NOW SOAKED IN HOT WATER. 
UNTIL PAPER BACKING 16 
SUFFICIENTLY LOOSENED AND 
CAN BE HEELED OFF LEAVING 
GELATINE COATING WITH THE 
IMAGES ON THE CYLINOER. FACE 

THE CYLINDER IS AGAIN 
TREATED WITH HOT WATER 
UNTIL THE IMAGES DEVELOP 
CLEARLY AND CAN BE SEEN 
ON COPPER CYLINDER. 

IT IS NOW DWYEO AIYOTHE 
PARTS PA1NTE.O OUT WHICH 
ARE NOT TO BE ETCHED. 

IMAGES ARE NEGATIVE AT 
THIS POINT. 



DIAGRAM SHOWIN6 THE: CIRCUIT OF PAPER OVER THE 
PRINTING CYLINDERS AND DRYING DRUMS. 



TO CUTTER 



3000 TO 5,000 
COPIES PER 
HOUR 



GREEN IMA6eft 
ON THIS 
CYLINDER — * 



GREEN INK 
10. PRINTING "ROTOGRAVURe" PAQf.t 
IN TWO COLORS AT THE SAME 
TIME ON ONE psess 




Illustrating the successive stages followed in reproducing 
illustrations and text matter by the Rotogravure Process 



Page One Hundred and Two 



ROTOGRAVURE PICTURES 

layouts and art work of unusual size. The 
focal capacity of this camera is eight feet ; and 
the largest plate or film which can be accom- 
modated is 60 inches by 3 5 inches. For photo- 
graphing the usual size of photos and other 
illustrations, the standard photoengravers' 
type of copying camera is employed. 

"Making Up the Form" 

By pasting the retouched positives on a 
large piece of plate glass, we enter the second 
stage of the process which is called "making 
up the form." A large piece of plate glass is 
placed on top of a ruled layout and each posi- 
tive placed in its marked place on this glass. 

The form is then ready to be taken into the 
carbon printing room, where it is placed in a 
vacuum printing frame. 

In the meantime the carbon tissue paper, 
which comes in rolls 3 by 12 feet and which 
consists of a strong paper evenly coated with 
gelatin containing a brown pigment, is sensi- 
tized in bichromate of potash, squeegeed on a 
ferrotype plate and dried for not over two 
hours. 

"Printing the Pictures on Carbon Tissue" 

When ready to be used, the carbon tissue is 
cut into the proper size and placed on top of 

-*■ Page One Hundred and Three +- 



REPRODUCTION 



the form in the vacuum printing frame. The 
vacuum printing frame is similar to that used 
by amateur photographers in printing their 
Kodak pictures, only it is much larger. The 
small-sized frame gives the necessary contact 
by a steel spring while the life-sized frames 
have a more elaborate mechanism. To be cer- 
tain that all pictures which are placed in a 
large frame have good contact, a vacuum 
pump is connected by a flexible hose to a rub- 
ber blanket. An air pump then sucks the air 
from between the form and the blanket. In 
this way good contact is guaranteed between 
the picture form and carbon paper. Powerful 
arc lights are turned on and given a certain 
length of time exposure, which operation is 
also called printing. The carbon tissue with 
the printed pictures on it, is now put in 
another vacuum printing frame and placed on 
top of an engraved glass screen of from 1 50 to 
175 lines to the inch and a second exposure is 
given. The tissue, which is really a paper, 
resembling "Solio" photo print stock, is now 
ready to be transferred to the copper cylinder. 
The cylinders can be solid copper rolls, or 
better, hollow copper cylinders, slightly tap- 
ered on the inside so that they can be forced 
on a mandrel. Some are steel tubes on which 

-»• Page One Hundred and Four - 1 - 



ROTOGRAVURE PICTURES 

a shell of copper has been deposited by elec- 
troplating. These rolls are polished and turned 
absolutely true in a lathe before they reach 
the carbon transfer room. 

"Transferring Picture to Copper Cylinder" 

To transfer the printed carbon tissue to the 
copper cylinder, it is soaked in a solution of 
alcohol and water. When the tissue begins to 
flatten, it is quickly lifted out of the solution, 
adjusted to the position indicated by pencil 
marks which have been drawn on the cylin- 
ders, and squeegee securely to it. All the water 
possible is pressed out and all surplus moisture 
is wiped from the back with a soft cloth. The 
roll is allowed to set for at least twenty 
minutes while the trough is cleaned and pre- 
pared with hot water. When ready the cylin- 
der is steadily turned over in the developing 
trough until the paper backing is loosened and 
finally stripped off. The soluble gelatin can 
now be washed away until the image shows 
proper development. The image will be found 
on the cylinder in gelatin relief, correspond- 
ing to the lights and shades of the positive, 
through which the light entered. Where the 
positive was densest the light penetrated least 
and the film of gelatin is consequently thin- 

— *• Page One Hundred and Five •*- 



REPRODUCTION 



nest. Where the positive was most transpar- 
ent, the light acted to the greatest extent and 
the carbon film is thickest. The tissue is then 
treated with alcohol and water, gradually in- 
creasing the alcohol until pure alcohol is used 
to drive out all the water possible from the 
film in order to accelerate and ensure its drying. 
It is now ready to have the margins covered 
with asphalt varnish to prevent the acid from 
etching them, and when perfectly dry the 
cylinder is ready for etching. 

Perchloride of iron of different strengths is the 
mordant used. The iron solution penetrates 
the thinnest parts of the gelatin resist first, 
and therefore etches the cylinder most under 
these parts. Where the gelatin resist is thick- 
est, corresponding with the high lights of the 
positive, the mordant has the least effect on 
the copper and the etching is slightest. The 
important point to observe is that the screen 
lines are not etched away, for on the preserva- 
tion of these lines as partitions between ink 
cavities and as bearers for the metal wiper, 
commonly called "doctor," the whole success 
of rotogravure printing depends. 

After cleaning the asphalt protection from 
the roller with kerosene and removing the 
gelatin resist with a solution of acetic acid 

-•■ Page One Hundred and Six •*- 



ROTOGRAVURE PICTURES 

and water, the cylinder is ready for the press. 

The press which receives these copper 
cylinders is constructed in the usual method 
to allow the cylinder to revolve in a fountain 
filled with specially prepared ink. Since 
the design is etched below the surface, this 
ink fills the design. By scraping all super- 
fluous ink off the outside of the copper cylin- 
der with the aforementioned "doctor" blade, 
the surface of the cylinder is kept perfectly 
clean, and with the assistance of the rubber- 
covered roller or impression cylinder, the de- 
sign from the copper cylinder is transferred to 
the web of paper when it passes between the 
rubber impression roller and the copper cylin- 
der. As the inks are used in a very liquid state, 
it has been necessaryto introduce drying appar- 
atus to dry the webs between printing on one 
side and the other, and also after printing on 
both sides, before passing to the further opera- 
tion of folding and delivering the printed prod- 
uct in sheets. 

The use of rotogravure printing is spreading 
rapidly. An increasing number of newspapers 
and magazines are adopting this type of print- 
ing for feature sections in their Sunday issues 
or as inserts in their magazines. The fact is 
that the wealth of detail and the distinct re- 

-»■ Page One Hundred and Seven +- 



REPRODUCTION 



production of features, especially in group 
pictures, make the new process a wonderful 
agent for the reproduction of scenes and photo- 
graphs of current events and advertising in 
any form or size. 






Page One Hundred and Eight 



CHAPTER XII 

The Ben Day Process and Its 
Application 

WHEN anything new is invented in the 
field of labor-saving devices, there al- 
ways seems to be a reaction, and poachers are 
many. 

Benjamin Day and his successors, the Ben 
Day, Inc., on more than one occasion have 
been called upon to use legal means to protect 
the interests of that worthy organization and 
its patents pertaining to the Ben Day Process. 

The Ben Day Process holds a prominent 
position in the "WHO'S WHO" of the engrav- 
ing and allied professions. It is probably used 
more, and in proportion understood less than 
any other branch of reproduction. Benjamin 
Day believed in the saying: "Necessity is the 
mother of invention." Spending much valuable 
time in stippling and fussing with various 
effects, trying to get tone on his designs, he 
felt the call of invention, and invent he did, 
with so much success that now, even the 
youngest member of the advertising agency, is 
familiar with the trade-term significance of his 
name. 

-•- Page One Hundred and Nine *- 



REPRODUCTION 



Following, expressed in the simplest terms, 
is an outline of the uses of the process. Being 
familiar with the term, and knowing that 
putting in a Ben Day tint means the treatment 
of certain parts of the design in different tones 
or effects, is not enough. There are automobile 
owners who probably know they have a mag- 
neto-equipped engine ; they know when it func- 
tions and when it does not; but when it fails 
to function and they fail, through lack of 
proper knowledge, to correct the trouble, they 
promptly place the blame on the whole car. 
Thus is the engraver vituperated every day be- 
cause of the lapses in foresight of the adver- 
tiser or artist. There are advertisers who do 
not understand that no screen is used in mak- 
ing a zinc plate; that a 133-line screen half- 
tone is not suitable for newspaper work; and 
there are numerous agents who cannot judge 
the proper method of reproduction to suit their 
needs. 

However, we are not writing a book to 
magnify the shortcomings of the advertising 
agent, but to try to show him how much there 
is to learn, and probably to teach a little too. 

To "BEN DAY" a drawing is to use a mod- 
ern mechanical method of lining or stippling 
it. Lining and stippling — representing the old- 

-*■ Page One Hundred and Ten +~ 




mm 




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Courtesy of Ben Day, Inc. 



BEN DAY PROCESS 

est methods of producing tone and shading 
effects on plates for reproduction — are ac- 
cepted as task-saving devices, and the artist, 
in particular, will concede this. 

There are at the present time about 125 
different patterns or effects to be obtained by 
the films supplied by the Ben Day Company, 
but an almost infinite number of other effects 
may be obtained by the clever combination of 
these films. It is the clever operation of the 
machine that makes it valuable. Some engrav- 
ing houses make a specialty of Ben Day work 
and advertise to such an end, but the duration 
of their prestige depends upon the man who 
operates the instrument. 

A Ben Day SCREEN, as some call it, is a 
transparent gelatine film, mounted upon a 
frame of wood. It has lines or dots or textures, 
as the case may be, in relief on one side, and 
when this side is rolled up., with ink and pres- 
sure applied on the reverse side, the pattern 
or tint effect of the film is transferred upon the 
drawing or plate. The actual process of appli- 
cation will be explained later. The shading 
film is held over the drawing or plate by means 
of registry appliances equipped with micro- 
metric devices, so that the film tints may be 
increased in shade values at the discretion of 

-*■ Page One Hundred and Eleven ■*- 



REPRODUCTION 



the operator. It is, however, far from being an 
ordinary tint-laying machine. An intelligent 
Ben Day operator can produce graded varia- 
tions comparable with the old-time nuances 
of wood engraving. 

The tints supplied by the Ben Day Com- 
pany are all practical and in demand every 
day for both magazine and newspaper work. 
There are straight-line tints, about twenty of 
them, ranging from sixteen lines to two hun- 
dred and forty to the inch. The use of such a 
screen as the latter is limited to fine paper 
work. Nothing over sixty-five lines should be 
used for newspaper work. There are also grad- 
uated and wave-line tints, used extensively 
for skies, backgrounds, rounded objects, etc., 
and a large complement of grains and textures, 
and hand and mechanical stipples. 

All kinds of interesting effects are obtain- 
able, some very fine leather textures, and 
others intended primarily for fashion work 
show shepherd's checks, and by ingenuity in 
combining screens, practically every material 
can be faithfully represented. 

For the modern illustrator, Ben Day films 
play an important part in putting atmosphere 
and shadows in a drawing. 

A screen sample book of the Ben Day Com- 

-*■ Page One Hundred and Twelve +- 

























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Specimens of Een Day screens 



BEN DAY PROCESS 

pany should be in every studio and advertis- 
ing agency. It contains samples representative 
of the screens made by this company, with the 
screens numbered, so that they can be selected 
and specified to the engraver. Artists, in par- 
ticular, should study this book in order to 
familiarize themselves with the screens and 
the different effects and how they can be used 
in combination with each other. The writer 
has found that he can specify screens to be 
used in combination without any fear of pro- 
ducing bad "patterns." Experience teaches 
this. 

In selecting a screen, however, it must be 
continually kept in mind that what will be 
satisfactory in an engraver's proof is by no 
means a guarantee of what the finished work 
is going to look like. So much dissatisfaction is 
encountered along this line that too much stress 
cannot be laid upon it. Fast running presses 
produce a job far different looking from the 
patiently pulled proof of the engraver. Expe- 
rience, as we have said, is the only teacher in 
the judicious selection of screens, but as a gen- 
eral rule, it should be understood that the more 
open the detail, the better the result for rotary 
press-work. The Ben Day screens, used direct 
on plate or negative work, are of course repro- 

-*- Page One Hundred and Thirteen •*- 



REPRODUCTION 



duced same size as shown in the proof-book. 
But when used on drawings intended for re- 
duction, the artist must be well aware of the 
intended reductions of his drawings, and work 
with screens that will stand such reduction. 

"BEN DAY" is also used extensively in the 
process of lithography. We do not wish to con- 
vey the idea that it is superior in artistic re- 
sults or fineness of execution to the diamond 
point of the ruling machine, or the engraving 
needle; to fine stippling, or to the air brush; 
but for practical utility, clearness of detail 
and sureness of printing quality and technique, 
the Ben Day screen holds a prominent place 
in the lithographic field. 

There are two kinds of apparatus in use for 
laying Ben Day. One, the Ben Day Hold- 
fast Apparatus, elevates and protracts the 
screen over a lithographic stone. The other, 
the Ben Day Process Board Apparatus, is used 
for working on metal plates, negatives, or 
actual drawings in black and white. In either 
apparatus the frame of the Shading Film is 
provided with an adjustable bracket clamp 
which engages two micrometric pivotal hinges 
on a cross rod. When the screen is adjusted, 
it is found that it can thus be raised and low- 
ered to observe the work as it progresses. 

-»■ Page One Hundred and Fourteen •*- 




XaSSk 



Courtesy of Ben Day, Inc. 



BEN DAY PROCESS 

In laying a screen on a lithographic stone, 
the film is first placed over an inking pad and 
the face of the film, so supported, is inked with 
an especially good grade of transfer ink; some 
prefer a quick-drying ink. This inking is done 
with the usual hand roller. 

The stone is first "stopped out" carefully; 
that is to say, a gum solution is painted over 
such parts of the stone as are not to be treated 
with the Ben Day effect. The stopping-out 
process is exactly the same as required in any 
piece of work that must be masked to protect 
it — just as the retoucher stops out certain 
parts of the picture by using frisket paper. 
The screen is now placed in the machine and 
adjusted over the stone. The outline drawing 
can easily be seen through the gelatine film, 
and it is not a difficult matter to press the film 
down on the stone and transfer the inked 
pattern to it on those parts which are to re- 
ceive the effect. This is done by applying 
pressure to the back of the film by means of 
an agate stylus or a rubber roller, whichever 
may be found the more practicable tool for the 
job in hand. 

In laying Ben Day tints on metal plate work, 
the "stopping out" is effected by painting the 
parts of the plate not to be treated, with gam- 

-*■ Page One Hundred and Fifteen *- 



REPRODUCTION 



boge. Then the screen is inked and laid as usual 
and when completed, the etching of the plates 
is carried on from this point without variation 
from the methods described in the making of 
zinc plates in another chapter. 

Negative effects are obtained by laying the 
screen on the negative previous to stripping it. 
By this method we have the reverse effect 
when the plate is complete. For instance, if 
the screen used consists of straight black lines, 
we have, when the proof is pulled, a solid 
background with white lines superimposed. 
Any other effect is naturally treated in the 
same way. 

"Ben Day" will have even a wider use as 
time passes. Advertisers will some day grow 
tired of trying to print half-tones on uncoated 
stock, and turn to Ben Day, as a tired child 
turns to its mother. (Don't laugh, we mean 
you!) How many advertisers are familiar with 
the wonderful results obtained in the printing 
of children's books with 2, 3 and 4 Ben Day 
plates? On uncoated stock, too! What's that? 
Sure! Let's buy a baby's book and learn 
sumpton ! 



Page One Hundred and Sixteen ■«- 



CHAPTER XIII 
Ben Day Screens — A Logical Process 

by 

The Walker Engraving Co. 

New York City 

WE have been shown in previous chap- 
ters that engravings are made by 
printing photographically on metal with a sub- 
stance which becomes acid resistent. This sub- 
stance protects the plate from the etching acid, 
while all parts not so protected etch down and 
form a relief printing plate. 

There are other ways of applying acid-re- 
sisting substances to plates which are to be 
etched and the Ben Day process is one in gen- 
eral use. The process derives its name from 
Benjamin Day, who invented and developed 
the method. Its purpose is to supply lines, 
dots or other patterns and designs, which do 
not appear in the original copy. Films made of 
a semi-transparent material are furnished by 
the Ben Day Co. On the surface of each film 
is a design which corresponds to the printed 
samples supplied in the book of Ben Day tints. 
These designs may be in any one of a great 
number of textures, but for the purpose of 

-*■ Page One Hundred and Seventeen •*- 



REPRODUCTION 



explaining the process, let us select four differ- 
ent films and consider that we are to Ben Day 
the picture shown in Figure i . To apply these 
various tints to the plate, it is only necessary 
to roll the films with ink and print them on the 
metal plate by pressure. The ink thus printed 
on the metal is sticky. After each application 
of a film the plate is dusted with a resinous 
powder, which, when heated, melts and will 
resist acid. When the plate is etched, the dots 
and effects which were printed from the Ben 
Day films are in relief and will print the paper. 
This is a general outline of the method, but 
the details of the process are quite intricate 
and are worthy of careful study if one contem- 
plates using the Ben Day method extensively. 
There are more than a hundred different tex- 
tures of films and the selection of the tint to be 
used depends not only upon the effect desired, 
but the paper on which the plate is to be 
printed. When etched, these are, after all, re- 
lief plates and for this reason a very fine tint 
will print no better on poor paper than would 
a fine screen half-tone. The method by which 
one would determine the fineness of screen for 
half-tones, would apply in exactly the same 
manner to Ben Day plates. The rougher the 
paper, the coarser the texture of the tint. Too 

-*- Page One Hundred and Eighteen -*- 




Figure "A" 

Showing the working drawing as supplied to the engraver. 

An overlay of tissue paper designated the screens to be 

used and their position 



BEN DAY SCREENS 

much emphasis cannot be laid on this matter, 
as many inexperienced users of the Ben Day 
method seem to believe that it is a cure for all 
photoengraving ills and that if a job cannot 
be made to print in any other way, the Ben 
Day process will fix it up all right. 

Ben Day Tints and Their Addition to a Design 

The illustration in Figure i shows a design 
in line work to which Ben Day tints are to be 
added. The design is first photographed and 
printed photographically on the metal just as 
though it were to be etched as a line plate. 
Before etching, however, the Ben Day tints 
must be laid. Obviously, it would be difficult 
to print the different tints on just the areas 
desired, without running over on some other 
part of the plate, so the plate is treated to 
what is called "gumming out." The areas 
which are not to be treated are painted over 
with a water color solution called gamboge. 
The solution is soluble in water and is very 
carefully applied, so that it will just touch the 
outlines of the work where the Ben Day tint 
is to begin. Of course, this leaves bare metal 
where the tint is to be laid. 

The film to be used is then carefully inked 
with special Ben Day ink, using a hard roller, 

-*■ Page One Hundred and Nineteen +~ 



REPRODUCTION 



much after the fashion of inking a printing 
plate. The film is laid on the metal plate and 
rubbed from the back. This transfers, or prints 
on the metal, whatever pattern appears on 
the film. After the tint has been laid, the metal 
plate is gently washed in water. The ink, which 
is of a greasy nature, resists the water and 
does not wash away, but the gamboge, which 
is soluble, washes away and takes with it any 
ink which has been printed on the gamboged 
parts. The plate is then dryed and dusted with 
resinous powder (this operation being known 
as "topping up"). The plate is next heated, 
which causes the design printed thereon to 
resist acid. Any other Ben Day screens are 
laid in the same manner. Figure 2 shows the 
finished plate. 

It is very often desired to stipple certain 
parts of a design which are solid black, so as to 
allow their printing in certain magazines which 
do not allow heavy solid black areas. In such 
cases, by following out the stages of the proc- 
ess, it will be seen that were the design printed 
photographically on the metal, those black 
areas would also be black on the metal, that 
is, already protected with an acid resist, leav- 
ing no metal on which to lay the tint. There 
are two methods of overcoming this : 

-*■ Page One Hundred and 7 wenty •*- 




Figure "B" 

The finished plate. Screens used are: Sky (7), Camel (443): 

Robes (440), Ground (441) 



BEN DAY SCREENS 

First, consider what the negative of the sub- 
ject would look like. All values of the negative 
are the reverse of the original copy. Black is 
white (transparent) and whites are black. It is 
quite possible to "gum out" on the negative, 
leaving the area to be tinted ungummed. A tint 
is then laid on the negative, but the tint must be 
the reverse of the tint wanted on the finished 
plate. Suppose, for instance, that screen No. 
433 has been specified as the stipple desired. 
It so happens that there is a tint No. 44 1 , which 
is practically the opposite to No. 433, having 
a black area with white dots. (See the screen 
specimens.) By laying this tint on the negative, 
the desired result is obtained. This is one way 
out of the difficulty, but it is not always pos- 
sible to follow this procedure, because there are 
not always opposite tints to the ones desired. 

The second method is to make the metal 
print, black area and all. Parts of the print 
would then be gummed over, leaving exposed 
only the black area to be tinted. The metal 
print is next inked with a greasy ink and gently 
washed in benzine. This will dissolve and wash 
away the black area exposed by the gum, but 
the gum, which is insoluble in benzine, will not 
be washed away. The regular No. 433 tint 
would then be laid in the usual manner on the 

-*• Page One Hundred and Twenty-one ■*- 



REPRODUCTION 



area to be tinted. After the usual washing the 
black area is converted into dots of the No. 433 
tint. Of course the best way is to make the 
original copy with a white area where the Ben 
Day is to be laid. The tint can then be laid 
without difficulty and considerable expense 
will be avoided. 

When planning to add a Ben Day tint to any 
plate, it will aid in understanding what has to 
be done, if one will consider that the tint must 
be added, just as though it were to be put on 
the original drawing in black lines or dots. 

In considering any method wherein the 
print on the metal is to be dissolved with ben- 
zine or turpentine, it is well to understand 
that this applies only to such prints as are 
made with this greasy ink. Most zinc plates 
are printed with this so-called "ink top." 

Copper plates are printed with an "enamel 
top" which is baked on. This is not soluble, 
so that Ben Day tints on copper plates can 
only be laid where the design permits, unless 
the tint is laid on the negative, in which case 
the print may be subsequently made on either 
copper or zinc. 

Ben Day Tints on Stained Plates 

In the case of using a second color, which, 

-*■ Page One Hundred and Twenty-two •*- 



BEN DAY SCREENS 

of course, necessitates a second plate, let us 
assume the design to be the same as that shown 
in Figure i and that color is to be added as a 
second printing in red or pink. 

The first plate is made as shown in Figure 2, 
except probably the screen which is shown in 
the faces. This could be left out and a tint of 
red substituted from the second plate. 

Red tints of varying strengths could be 
added to the robes of the men and solid red 
could be judiciously spotted about the saddle 
and equipment of the camel. 

Having these instructions, an extra metal 
print is made from the same negative. This 
print is then placed in the acid for just a 
moment, and the acid, while not having any 
time to etch the plate to any depth, attacks 
the metal sufficiently to leave its mark very 
distinctly. The print is then cleaned off, but 
the image remains on the metal as a "stain." 
This is necessary in order to have a guide for 
laying the tints. This stained print is then 
gummed out, following the lines of the stain 
and the Ben Day tints laid as required. All 
parts which are to be solid are painted in 
solid on the plate with an acid resist known 
as "asphaltum." When etched the plate is 
ready to print only where the color is wanted. 

-•■ Page One Hundred and Twenty-three ■*- 



REPRODUCTION 



Had the original print been allowed to remain 
on the metal, all the design would have printed 
in the red plate as well as in the black, which 
would have destroyed the effectiveness of the 
design. Stained plates can only be made on 
zinc. This method is the basis of all Ben Day 
color plates and is not limited to simple line 
designs. 

Now let us consider that the original subject 
is a photograph and that it is to be made into 
a set of four color plates. A half-tone is made 
and finished up as a key plate, which usually 
prints in black. From the half-tone negative 
three zinc stains are then made, one for each 
color to be used. The necessary tints are laid 
on each plate and all four plates are printed 
in their required colors, one being superim- 
posed on the other. 

Great care and skill must necessarily be em- 
ployed in laying the tints on a set of plates of 
this nature, as hand painting the colors by 
means of these Ben Day tints and their com- 
binations is really necessary. 

Understanding the Principle of the 
Ben Day Film 

It will be recalled that each dot or line on a 
Ben Day film is of a uniform size. For instance, 

-*■ Page One Hundred and Twenty-four •*— 



BEN DAY SCREENS 

if Ben Day No. 509 is selected as a tint, this 
film will simply print light dots with no gra- 
dations. 

Assuming that a tone is wanted which is 
darker than the tint of the film, it becomes 
necessary to lay this film more than once on 
the same plate. This is accomplished by shift- 
ing the film over the work ever so slightly, so 
that each dot will double up and print heavier. 
On a rod at the upper edge of the machine is 
carried a set of micrometer adjusting screws. 
These micrometers are so arranged that the 
film may be fastened accurately to them, but 
in such a manner that it may be removed 
and replaced in exact position. The film is set 
in position, then removed and inked and the 
first impression laid on the plate. The microm- 
eters are then adjusted to move the film, say, 
just half the width of one of the dots. The film 
is again removed, inked and laid over the plate 
once more. As the film has been moved the 
necessary width, the second impression on the 
metal increases the size of the dot just fifty 
per cent., giving a tint correspondingly darker. 
This is what is known as "doubling up" and 
may be repeated until the desired tone or 
strength is secured. 

Graded or blended tones may be obtained 

-* Page One Hundred and Twenty-five ■*- 



REPRODUCTION 



in the same manner, but great skill must be 
employed, as the pressure in rubbing the film 
on the plate regulates to a large extent the 
degree of tone and strength. Highly skilled 
operators or Ben Day men, as they are called, 
can obtain remarkable results in this manner. 
Different Ben Day films may also be com- 
bined, which will give unusual effects, imitat- 
ing anything from cloth to leather. 

Sizes of Ben Day Plates 

The size of an area to be tinted is sometimes 
larger than the Ben Day film selected. In this 
case it becomes necessary to again use the 
micrometer adjusters. The film is laid over a 
portion of the plate and then shifted to the 
remainder of the area and relaid. It will be 
appreciated what great care must be exercised 
in order to carry out these operations, when 
one considers that every dot or line of the first 
impression must match up absolutely with 
every corresponding dot or line of the second 
impression. This operation is particularly deli- 
cate and difficult when single-line films, like 
No. 10, or even more complicated ones have 
to be doubled up to give heavier lines than 
shown in the film sample book. 

-+■ Page One Hundred and Twenty-six •*- 



CHAPTER XIV 
A Look into Lithography 

THE first processes of Lithography were 
discovered by Alois Senefelder of Mu- 
nich, in 1 796, but while the invention is right- 
fully ascribed to him, it is also agreed that 
Simon Schmidt, of Germany, and William 
Blake, of England, used a somewhat similar 
process of reproducing writings and "art" 
nearly twenty years previous. It was in the 
quarries at Solenhofen, Bavaria, Germany, 
that Senefelder located a closely grained lime- 
stone, which was so sensitive that it would 
absorb either grease or water, and later dis- 
covered that water would not penetrate any 
part of the stone that was covered with the 
grease. In experiments following the discovery, 
Senefelder drew letters and designs with greasy 
crayons on the stone and then dampened the 
entire surface with water. He then applied 
printers' ink to the stone and found that the 
ink only adhered to such parts as were covered 
by the crayon, the wet parts of the stone re- 
pelling the ink. 

By this method Senefelder was only able to 
get a reversed impression of his design, as you 

-»■ Page One Hundred and Twenty-seven •*- 



REPRODUCTION 



get on a blotter. However, it was soon learned 
that if the design were reversed on the stone, 
the impression was then readable or "positive." 

Not all stones used nowadays will absorb 
ink like a blotter, nor reject it when the stone 
is wet. Practically the only stones ever discov- 
ered with these peculiar tendencies were those 
from the quarries which first gave Senefelder 
the idea of reproduction from stone, and these 
fine limestones from Solenhofen are now ex- 
ported to all parts of the world. The stones are 
sawn at the quarries into slabs 3 to 4 inches 
thick and from 6-8 inches to 44-62 inches in 
area. They vary in color from a light cream, 
full yellow, drab or gray, to darker shades of 
the same colors, the lighter tints being softer 
stones than the darker. 

For many years after its discovery the actual 
printing was done by hand. Even to-day the 
hand press is still used for proving and some 
lithographers will tell you that they use it 
occasionally for short runs. Mechanical in- 
genuity has now invented fast running presses 
which will print many thousands of impres- 
sions in a day. The most modern of these 
presses is known as the Offset Press. The proc- 
ess used is different from the stone press, in- 
asmuch as the image is engraved on a metal 

-*• Page One Hundred and Twenty-eight •*- 



LITHOGRAPHY 



plate from which it is transferred, in the opera- 
tion of printing, to a rubber blanket and 
thence to the paper. This is more fully de- 
scribed in another chapter. 

There are two separate and distinct methods 
of reproduction from stone, but perhaps a 
lithographer will tell you that there are about 
twenty-two. However, they only constitute 
branches of the two most vital differences of 
reproduction that we have in mind. One of 
these methods is used only for what a photo- 
engraver would call "straight black and 
white," and the design is put on a smooth-sur- 
faced, highly polished stone. Any work that 
requires only pen and ink to make the design 
is termed "black and white" and may be re- 
produced by this method. It is also possible to 
use a Ben Day machine to obtain shading or 
tone effects. A reference to the older litho- 
graphed letterheads will illustrate this method, 
although the shading, which in some instances 
will be found to be very elaborate, was done by 
hand before the shading machine was invented. 

The second method, which is the more 
artistic from a standpoint of modern require- 
ments, is what is sometimes called crayon 
work. By this means the expert lithographic 
artist is enabled to reproduce the most dif- 

-*■ Page One Hundred and Twenty-nine *- 



REPRODUCTION 



ficult subjects with ease, provided he is al- 
lowed the correct number of stones or colors. 
Here, we might say, is where the many con- 
troversies occur between the advertiser and 
the lithographers, as to the number of colors 
to use for a particular subject. It should be 
understood by the advertiser that a separate 
stone and separate printing will be necessary 
for each distinct solid color used by the artist. 
Here are two instances most common. When 
an artist uses a straight or pure shade of 
Pogany blue for a sky, it cannot be reproduced 
by a crayon of ultramarine used in some other 
part of the design. It is a distinct color. Just 
the same with grays. A fine French gray might 
be used, but a light crayoning on the black 
plate will not obtain a correct French gray, so 
a separate stone is necessary. In all cases 
where color drawings are made for reproduc- 
tion by lithography, the number of colors 
should be distinctly understood by the artist, 
and, moreover, the artist should understand 
how to use them, if satisfactory results are to 
be obtained. The artist should bear in mind 
that the lithographer does not use white to 
thin or tone down a color, and any color that 
is materially affected by the addition of white 
will, in many cases, be different when obtained 

-»- Page One Hundred and Thirty •*- 



LITHOGRAPHY 



by stippling or crayoning on stone. For ex- 
ample, make a light color from any solid or 
pure color. Then put the same pure or solid 
color in an air-brush and spray on a light tone 
about the same as obtained with white in the 
first test. Notice the difference and you will 
know the limit to which lithographers must 
work, compared to the artist. This also applies 
to the reproduction of color by any process. 
We might mention, for the benefit of those who 
are interested in the actual processes of lithog- 
raphy, that the stones used in this method 
are, instead of being polished, broken up into 
minute points, known technically as a "grain." 
The lighographic chalk is then received on the 
stone in proportion to the pressure employed. 



Page One Hundred and Thirty-one 



CHAPTER XV 

What an Advertiser and Artist 
Should Know About Lithography 

An essay by 
Joseph Ellner 

O/Einson Litho, Inc. 

New York 

LITHOGRAPHY is a method of printing 
direct from the surface of stone, zinc, 
aluminum, tin or other metal. It is different 
from all other methods of printing and has 
properly been called chemical printing. 

Joseph Pennell, in his valuable book, 
"Lithography and Lithographers," tersely 
sums up the theory and practice of lithog- 
raphy: "If the stone is drawn upon, or has 
transferred to it a design in greasy ink or 
chalk, and this design is washed with water, 
the grease of the design will repel the water 
and those parts of the stone or plate which are 
blank will absorb it. If now a roller, charged 
with the same greasy ink, is passed over the 
flat surface of the stone, the ink will come off 
the roller and adhere to the greasy design. 
But the blank parts of the stone which are wet 

-•■ Page One Hundred and Thirty-three ■*- 



REPRODUCTION 



will refuse to take the ink from the roller and 
will remain blank." 

Like all other arts, lithography has a tech- 
nique of its own which the artist in past days 
had to master to have his work reproduced by 
the lithographic process. Few artists today, 
however, have a working knowledge of litho- 
graphic processes and their limitations, while 
those who have are rewarded by superior re- 
sults in the reproduction of their work. 

One of the fundamental points the artist 
must ascertain before he sets brush to paper 
is how his drawing will be reproduced. Will it 
be by "straight" lithography, or by "photo- 
litho"? If "straight," then he is severely 
limited as to color range. He should determine 
whether four or six colors will be allowed him. 
He should further confine himself to flat colors 
as far as possible and scrupulously avoid tints. 

If his drawing is to be reproduced by the 
"photo-litho" process, the artist enjoys a 
wider range of colors, shades and tints, with 
the added confidence that the impartial cam- 
era will reproduce everything that is in his 
drawing. 

There are two distinct methods of preparing 
drawings for reproduction by the lithographic 
process : The first consists of the work of the 

-»- Page One Hundred and Thirty-four ■*- 



LITHOGRAPHY 



artist, done on paper in the regular or "posi- 
tive" way, then reproduced on an engraving 
stone by the engraver, who engraves or 
scratches the design or lettering into the 
smooth surface of the stone in reverse or 
"negative' ' for the stone press or the direct 
printing rotary press. For the rubber blanket 
offset press the engravings are made direct or 
positive. 

Right here is where the woeful discrepancies 
often occur between the original design and the 
reproduction. To copy the original design onto 
the stone or plate requires a high degree of 
artistic skill, and unless this is done by a well- 
trained man patiently and carefully, the re- 
sulting work will lack the very qualities which 
made the original an acceptable drawing. 

When the engraving is finished, the trans- 
ferrer pulls a transfer impression from it, 
which is laid on the printing stone or plate, 
ready for the pressman to put on the press and 
run off the edition. 

Another method, used almost universally by 
all poster and color lithographers, consists in 
having the design to be reproduced made 
directly on the printing stone or plate by 
means of crayons or pencils. This method re- 
quires no transfer to get ready for the press, 

-*■ Page One Hundred and Thirty-five •*- 



REPRODUCTION 



but the design must naturally be drawn in 
reverse. 

The other, in which paper or a very thin 
zinc plate, provided with a light sensitive film, 
is exposed under an ordinary — that is, re- 
versed — negative, thus is capable of receiving 
fatty inks and is then transferred to the plate 
by transfers. 

Each color is thus photographed on a sep- 
arate plate, and it is in the making and hand- 
ling of these color separation negatives that 
the science of photo-lithography reverts back 
again to the realm of a highly specialized art. 

Photo-lithography is the method of produc- 
ing from plates copies of a design transferred 
to them by the regular photographic process. 
The use of the camera has given lithography 
a practically unlimited range, and the possi- 
bilities have by no means been exhausted yet. 
The lithographer is today able to take an oil 
painting, and with a special machine and in 
an incredibly short time separate the colors, 
reduce or enlarge the size, and put them on 
plates ready for the offset press. 

The photo-lithographic process may be 
divided into two main classes: The first, in 
which the plate is coated with the light sen- 
sitive photographic substance and exposed 

-*■ Page One Hundred and Thirty-six ■*- 



LITHOGRAPHY 



under a reversed negative, so that a reversed 
image is formed on the plate which, in print- 
ing, comes in the right position. 

Offset lithography is printing from a metal 
plate to a rubber blanket and thence to the 
surface of the paper. The basis of offset print- 
ing is the substitution of metal plates for 
lithographic stone. The offset press consists 
of three cylinders: one to carry the printing 
plate, another to carry the rubber blanket, and 
a third to carry the sheet and effect the im- 
pression from the rubber blanket to the paper. 

The offset press, a comparative innovation, 
has advanced so rapidly during the past few 
years that it now, to all intents and purposes, 
covers the entire field of lithography. 

Among the many distinct advantages of 
offset lithography over the older method is the 
power to secure a more solid and sharp im- 
pression with a smaller volume of ink, thus 
preserving the work on the plate for longer 
runs. 

The subject of lithograph inks is of vital 
concern to the artist. What inks are at the 
disposal of the lithographer for the reproduc- 
tion of the artist's carefully selected and highly 
refined pigments or water colors ? Theoretically 
any painting or water-color sketch in any num- 

-<■ Page One Hundred and Thirty-seven •*- 



REPRODUCTION 



ber of colors can be reproduced with remark- 
able fidelity by lithography. Practically, how- 
ever, severe limits are set up for the lithog- 
rapher, which determine the accuracy of the 
reproduction. The two most important limita- 
tions are: one, the economic, the number of 
colors permitted by the customer who pays 
for the work ; two, the technical, the range of 
colors at the service of the lithographer. 

In general lithographic colored inks may be 
divided into three classes : 

Opaque — Dense, great covering powers — 
Black, vermilion, white, lemon yellow, orange 
yellow, chrome yellow. 

Semi-transparent — Medium density, medi- 
um covering power — Cardinal red, scarlet red, 
bronze blue, milori blue, medium green, pur- 
ple, umber, sienna. 

Transparent — Weak in coloring — Carmine, 
yellow lake, orange lake, madder lake, krapp 
lake, green lake, blue lake. 

In addition to the above the following spe- 
cial colors are often employed for certain kinds 
of work : 

Opaque — Concentrated blue, ultramarine 
blue, French blue, photo brown, flake white, 
silver white, gloss white. 

Semi-transparent — Process yellow, bronze 

-•- Page One Hundred and Thirty-eight ■*- 



LI THOGRAPHY 



red, Jacqueminot lake, Antwerp blue, Bis- 
marck brown, royal purple, permanent purple, 
Chemnitz white. 

Transparent — Indian yellow, rose lake, em- 
erald green, Victoria green, silk green. 

Apparently this list of colors should give 
the lithographer a color range that is almost 
limitless. But practically this is not so, save for 
the highest class of art lithography. Most 
commercial lithographers work in a uniform 
color scale, which is accounted a distinct 
economy in combination sheet work. This is a 
systematic regulation of the number of colors 
to use, which in various combinations permits 
the running of a group of different drawings 
on a common sheet. This, of course, means 
economy in production costs, but unfortu- 
nately it too frequently is at the expense of the 
artists most cherished color scheme. On the 
other hand, it must in justice be said that very 
often a drawing finding its way to such a com- 
mon sheet gets an extra color or two that it 
would not receive if it were run separately, and 
vastly improving the original thereby. 

The whole problem of color emphasizes the 
importance of artist and lithographer working 
together in close agreement of their art and 
technique. Wherever possible the artist should 

-*■ Page One Hundred and Thirty-nine +- 



REPRODUCTION 



be in consultation with the lithographer who 
is to reproduce his work. 

Lithography as practised today has not yet 
reached the limit of its possibilities. Every 
year, one might say every month, sees new 
ideas, new devices, new processes introduced, 
all tending to make it a more perfect medium 
of reproduction. The artist who is jealous of 
his work and takes pride in its proper repro- 
duction should inform himself about this 
youngest and probably most highly developed 
of all the reproductive arts. 



Page One Hundred and Forty +- 



CHAPTER XVI 
A Talk About Offset 

THE Offset Process of Lithography is not 
as widely known and understood among 
advertisers and artists as it should be, and for 
this it has not received all the credit due it. 

When the first Offset Press was introduced, 
there were many scoffers and those who would 
not believe in the practicability of a process 
that required the work to be first transferred 
to a metal plate, and then printed on a rubber 
plate and finally transferred from this to the 
paper. 

The preparation of drawings for this process 
does not require any special mention. Any- 
thing from a simple line to the most difficult 
color drawing can be easily and faithfully re- 
produced on an Offset Press, so for that reason 
we shall confine this chapter to a review of the 
process and its advantages. 

Offset was first intended for black and white 
reproduction, but it gradually worked its way 
into the color field, and it made good from the 
start. Every day some one is discovering some- 
thing new about the process, with the result 
that remarkable work is being produced, which 

— •- Page One Hundred and Forty-one ■•— 



REPRODUCTION 



demonstrates beyond the shadow of a doubt 
that in the field of fine color work, Offset print- 
ing will be the demand of the future. 

Advertisers frequently use coated paper for 
printing because they cannot obtain the de- 
sired results on other kinds of stock. However, 
it is not necessary to use coated paper to get 
the correct effect on an Offset Press. It will 
print a half-tone on rough paper and print it 
perfectly. 

The half-tone dot has a pure solid impres- 
sion when printed by this method. The typo- 
graphic process forces the raised point of the 
half-tone partially into the glazed paper sur- 
face, and the center of the dot becomes de- 
nuded of its ink, which has been squeezed out 
to the outer edge. This danger is eliminated by 
the Offset Process, and the most perfect half- 
tone printing is obtainable, especially if a high 
light or sensitive process plate is used. 

Such uneven surfaces as imitation leather 
and embossed papers are no obstacles for the 
Offset Press. These can be printed upon with- 
out destroying the surface markings, which is 
an accomplishment not obtainable by any 
other printing process. 

The rubber impresses the ink on the paper 
more delicately and there is less pressure, less 

-+■ Page One Hundred and Forty-two +- 



OFFSET 



stretching, less creasing and less overlapping 
of the paper, as well as less risk of bad register. 
The rubber blanket was formerly confined to 
printing on tin and its introduction in com- 
mercial lithography dates but a few years 
back. Because of the elasticity of the blanket, 
it was found that a perfect impression, which 
brought up every line of the engraving, could 
be obtained, no matter how fine the detail or 
how fast the press ran. Still further improve- 
ments were made, and to-day we have the 
rubber Offset Press capable of doing multi- 
colored work with startling rapidity and effec- 
tiveness. Among other developments is a set 
of machines which, when used in connection 
with the camera, enable the lithographer to 
take the most difficult color subject in oil 
painting, for instance, and in an incredibly 
short space of time, separate the colors, reduce 
or enlarge the size, and have plates ready for 
the Offset Press. 

It is here, we believe, that a tribute might be 
paid to photography, the ally of practically all 
processes of reproduction. Photography was 
not discovered by any one person, but was the 
contribution of many minds. Through the 
revelation of Mungo Ponton, in 1839, chromic 
acid was found to be sensitive to light. Talbot 

-*• Page One Hundred and Forty-three ■«- 



REPRODUCTION 



disclosed the fact that chromic gelatine be- 
came insoluble in water, and by the adoption 
of this principle by Poiteoin, a new field of 
endeavor was opened to the art of reproduc- 
tion. The screen process was its highest realiza- 
tion, and the unexcelled principle of litho- 
transfer, the extreme fineness of the Ben Day 
film, the introduction of metal plates, self- 
feeding machinery, the rubber blanket off-set, 
rapid printing presses, in short, the host of 
mechanical and chemical devices opened to 
graphic endeavor form a constantly growing 
tribute to the photographic art. 

Photography, it can be truly said, is mistress 
of all processes. It is the method par excel- 
lence which has made possible the combined 
mechano-chemical processes which have found 
their fullest, most far-reaching and economical 
exemplification of the most creditable versa- 
tile methods of reproduction as practised 
to-day. 

Through the advent of photography an im- 
mense flood of light has been shed upon the 
reproduction and development of art and the 
invitation to reproduce the marvelous color 
displays of nature by means of the camera is 
the seeming goal of the engravers. 

—i- Page One Hundred and Forty-four -t— 




Example of Charcoal Drawing, original sketch reproduced by 
the courtesy of the Pancoast Studios. High-light halftone plate 
and offset printing by the Andrew H. Kellogg Company. 



CHAPTER XVII 

Offset Lithography — The Most 
Modern Process of Reproduction 

An essay by 

Andrew H. Kellogg Co. 

New York City 

BEFORE Michelangelo Buonarroti at- 
tempted the frescoes on the Sistine 
Chapel at the Vatican he had become famous 
as sculptor, architect, and mural decorator. 
Exact knowledge of all the factors involved 
made his paintings immortal. 

The artist of today can well know as much 
as possible about the processes of reproduction 
that bring his work before the public. Today 
such supplementary knowledge is even more 
important than heretofore, for today it is not 
the work itself that the public sees but the 
results of reproduction. Any knowledge of the 
relative merits and requirements of various 
processes which the artist may have benefits 
those who are trying to help him, and thus his 
work as a whole. 

A conspicuous instance is J. C. Lyendecker, 
whose knowledge of lithography gained by 

-t- Page One Hundred and Forty-five +- 



REPRODUCTION 



years in a lithographic plant enabled him to 
revolutionize poster art. 

Today artists are helped by a patron more 
generous than any Art has ever known, the 
Advertiser. Artists are reaching millions. A 
great industrial age allows them no longer to 
place their work upon ceilings — buildings 
come up and down too rapidly. But none the 
less they play an inspiring part in their age, 
and will want to keep abreast of each new 
advance in reproduction that helps their work. 

Such an advance is offset printing. 

In a short article it is possible to do little 
more than indicate what offset accomplishes 
in color work, in wash, pencil, charcoal, and 
line. Results are what interest the artist, and 
the technical side may be merely outlined. 
Economy is what the advertiser naturally con- 
siders, and this conspicuous feature can, there- 
fore, be explained. 

In color work, the artist's objection has 
rightly been taken to the shiny surface of 
coated paper which it had been necessary to 
use in connection with the fine half-tone 
screens employed in the color plates, when 
printing was the medium. In lithography, he 
has, in addition to this, objected to the litho- 
graphic artist who has stepped in and inter- 

— Page One Hundred and Forty-six — 



OFFSET LITHOGRAPHY 

preted his work upon stone. How many adver- 
tisers, too, have approved of a painting until 
they saw it lithographed ! 

Would it not be much more pleasing to the 
artist to have his color work reproduced on a 
rough Antique paper? This, however, is not 
practical by the letterpress, for, if too light a 
pressure is used, only a part of the half-tone 
dots print. If too much pressure is used, the 
dot is smashed into the paper with a resulting 
muddy, heavy appearance. The usual method 
of overcoming these obvious difficulties 
with the letterpress is to employ a very 
coarse half-tone screen, 85 or even 65. These 
screens will print more clearly but naturally 
the dots are quite prominent and not suitable 
for high-class work. 

The offset not only removes objections, 
both to the coated stock and the mechanical 
copying of the lithographic artist, but it also 
does away with the coarseness of half-tone 
work on Antique paper. To understand why, 
let us briefly study for a moment the operation 
of the offset press. 

Consider three cylinders revolving in mu- 
tual contact. The upper one is the plate, the 
middle is the rubber blanket, and the bottom 
is the paper. The impression on the plate is 

-*■ Page One Hundred and Forty-seven •*- 



REPRODUCTION 




1 20 line screen half-tone enlarged approximately 60 

times, printed with too light pressure on uncoated stock. 

Note that many of the dots are not printing. 




Too^muchjpressure will smash the plate into the paper 
and create a heavy and mushed appearance of the dot. 



-INK 
y//L' 




RU 



BBER BLANKET 



The impression from a 120 line half-tone screen printed 

by Offset Process on rough paper, showing how each 

half-tone dot of the original plate is pressed firmly into 

the pores of the paper. 

-*• Page One Hundred and Forty-eight ■*- 



OFFSET LITHOGRAPHY 

printed on the rubber blanket, dot for dot, just 
the same as the pots of the original plate. As 
the cylinder revolves the print or impression 
comes in contact with the paper, which is held 
to the pressure cylinder by means of a row of 
grippers similar to those used on the usual 
cylinder press. When the ink impression on the 
rubber blanket comes in contact with the 
paper each dot or line is pressed into the rough 
surface of an Antique paper without smashing 
or spreading, but with a clean, sharp impres- 
sion. 

The pleasure that an artist experiences in 
seeing his work reproduced by offset comes 
from this use of rough Antique paper. 

The rough surface and the dull finish in- 
crease the brilliancy of color, and add depth 
as well. The roughness gathers the light and 
casts small, almost imperceptible shadows 
which practically obliterate any suggestion of 
screen. Offset will preserve the fineness of de- 
tail and the delicate line work of the half-tone 
plate — getting the full value of the plate and at 
the same time the full value of the texture of 
the paper. 

The dream of using rough paper for the re- 
production of fine color work in printing began 
to be realized about twenty years ago, with the 

-t- Page One Hundred and Forty-nine +- 



REPRODUCTION 



Pen and Ink drawing by Franklin Booth, reproduced 
by the courtesy of Thomas A. Edison, Inc. The 
sharpness of detail is still preserved, although the 
plate is about one-quarter the size of the original 
drawing. Offset plates and printing by the 
Andrew H. Kellogg Company 



Page One Hundred and Fifty ■*- 







Sections of progressive proofs of four'color plates reproduced 
on opposite page showing the four colors used and the result of 
imposing one color over the other. 




Reproduction from water'color copy by Offset Process in 
four colors. Offset plates and printing from the Press of the 
ldrew H. Kellogg Company. 



OFFSET LITHOGRAPHY 



Combination Pastell and Conte crayon drawing, 

reproduced by the permission of the artist, Mr. C. 

D. Williams. Offset plates and printing by the 

Andrew H. Kellogg Company 



Page One Hundred and Fifty-one-*- 



REPRODUCTION 



trial of the first offset press. Up to that time 
the letterpress and the stone and rotary 
lithographic presses had been used almost 
exclusively in the commercial field. When first 
introduced, the old-time lithographer saw in 
the offset press only a means of printing 
lithographic plates on rough paper. But, as the 
process developed, the progressive firms real- 
ized that less colors could be used, owing to 
the gradations of shade procurable on rough 
paper by the offset of even a single color. 
Usually four colors are sufficient to secure ex- 
cellent color effects. 

The method of duplication of a single plate 
on the large plate from which the job is to be 
run is accomplished in the same way in which 
transfers were made for the stone lithographic 
presses. The original plate of stone or zinc is 
rolled up with ink, and the transferer pulls an 
impression direct from the stone or zinc on to 
a sheet of India paper coated with a thin 
application of gum and glycerine. Should it be 
desired to run the job 1 6 or 32 up on a sheet, 
it will be necessary to pull 16 or 32 good im- 
pressions from the original plate. Even this 
method of duplication is being improved by 
new mechanical means which can be employed 
by offset houses using process plates. And the 

-*■ Page One Hundred and Fifty-two •*- 



OFFSET LITHOGRAPHY 

duplicate impression may be printed photo- 
graphically on the printing plate, without the 
labor of pulling impressions by hand. 

To the advertiser familiar with printing, 
this means of duplication will appeal from the 
standpoint of economy; as such duplication 
by letterpress would involve much additional 
expense of a set of electros for each plate dup- 
licated. And, from the same standpoint of 
economy, he should here remember what has 
been before stated, that usually it is necessary 
to use no more than four colors for the cor- 
responding result. 

It may be well to note here the recognized 
drawbacks of process plates and half-tones, 
chief of which is the prominence of the screen 
formations. An artistic effect is almost impos- 
sible with this intrusion of the mechanical. 
Half-tone plates are used in most cases with 
offset but, as has been said, the rough paper 
on which this process allows of printing kills 
the hard mechanical pattern of the half-tone 
screen while at the same time preserving, dot 
for dot, all the quality of the plate. 

Because of these manifold advantages in 
economy, convenience, speed, and efficiency 
of plate duplication, offset has established a 
new era in color printing. 

-#■ Page One Hundred and Fifty-three +- 



REPRODUCTION 



The artist needs no advice from us. It is safe 
to say he will choose offset on artistic grounds. 
He will prefer it — price aside. For, whatever 
medium he may use, he can rely upon offset 
for most faithful reproduction of his work. 

Consider the line drawing : its reproduction 
from an offset press will be as clean and sharp 
as the lines he so skillfully draws with his pen. 
It will be hard for him to distinguish between 
his work and the work of the press. The deli- 
cate lines will retain their values. The bold 
strokes of the brush will stand out as he laid 
them. The artist has long recognized that line 
work, supposedly the simplest to reproduce, 
is not always satisfactory as it comes from the 
ordinary zinc plate. Upon soft paper, the zinc 
will smash in, giving undue emphasis to deli- 
cate lines, and to the whole work a heavy, 
woodcut appearance. On the other hand, 
should a highly coated stock be used, the ink 
may pull away leaving a ripple which, even to 
the naked eye, will appear as if a delicate line 
had become wavy and indecisive. It is usual to 
blame the engraver in these cases. Some draw- 
ings are more difficult to handle than others. 
All drawings in line receive accurate represen- 
tation in offset. 

The artist does not always work with a pen. 

-*• Page One Hundred and Fifty-four ■*- 



OFFSET LITHOGRAPHY 

Sometimes every artist, and advertiser, too, 
has had the feeling — "If this could only go out 
to the public exactly as it looks in my hand." 
Most particularly is this the reaction when one 
is viewing a subtle and beautiful pencil sketch. 
Perhaps everyone is familiar with such 
sketches — say, those by Vernon Howe Bailey. 
On fine, artist's paper, held in the hand they 
give a sense of delight. Reproduced, they be- 
come hard and formal and uncompromising — 
usually upon glazed paper. Offset will take a 
pencil sketch and reproduce it upon the same 
paper on which the sketch was made. The re- 
sult will baffle a layman who tries to decide 
between original and reproduction. 

What has been said about pencil applies 
equally to charcoal. Here the heavy black 
lines, blending off sometimes into the most 
delicate shadowings, are a test for any process. 
Charcoal drawings should — and can — be re- 
produced upon the stock on which they were 
made. Offset supplies the medium, and the 
only medium. 

When one considers wash drawings, it is 
notable what added depth and brilliancy are 
imparted to the whole by using rough paper. 
Coated paper for half-tones has become so 
usual as almost to be considered a final and 

-* Page One Hundred and Fifty-five -*- 



REPRODUCTION 



ultimate achievement. Necessity has hereto- 
fore established this convention. As a matter 
of fact, the artist will be the first to realize that 
the flat, shiny surface is not in the least artis- 
tic. Pick up any magazine and note in the il- 
lustrations how the shadows have an opaque 
quality, oftentimes by their very insistence on 
exact, fine screening, displaying little imper- 
fections, destructive of illusion. Often the 
highlights will be tooled. A sky will have per- 
ceptible white ridges. 

A principle comes into play that is recog- 
nized by men who arrange scenery for the 
stage. They avoid flat tones in the sets because 
the light hits them and is stopped. The mot- 
tled combinations of tones create the illusion 
of distance and reality because the light seems 
to have the chance to disappear, as in life. 

The warm, rich, pulsating effect of a half- 
tone done by offset should be seen by the artist 
and laid side by side with the old method in 
order that he may recognize that here is a new 
process that gives him new freedom of artistic 
effect, in color, in wash, in line, pencil, char- 
coal, or whatever it may be. 

To an astonishing degree, offset printing 
combines practical and artistic advantages of 
interest to artist and advertiser. 

-*• Page One Hundred and Fifty-six +- 




Combination pencil and pen and ink sketch, reproduced by 
the courtesy of The Linnings. Offset plates and printing by the 
Andrew H. Kellogg Company. 



p 




CHAPTER XVIII 
Tint Blocks and Their Practical Use 

PRINTING in two colors always costs more 
than single color reproduction. Consider, 
for example, if 50,000 sheets were being run, 
the press would make 50,000 impressions 
if the job were run "one up." Now, if a second 
color is added, it is necessary to run the sheets 
through the press again, which means 50,000 
more impressions. And besides this, extra 
electros, additional make-ready, etc., would be 
necessary. You do not have to be very shrewd 
to understand the value of that second color. 
A spot of vermilion or a touch of one or more 
of the hundred subtle tints available will en- 
hance the general effect of almost any piece of 
printing. Some artists will submit drawings 
for advertising pieces that are cleverly con- 
ceived, but when the color schemes are anal- 
yzed it will be found that two, three, four and 
perhaps a greater number of extra press runs 
would be necessary to produce them. 

For typographic purposes, there are many 
practical uses for the tint block, the two most 
general being those of decoration and em- 
phasis. By emphasis we mean eye catching 

-► Page One Hundred and Fifty-seven •*- 



REPRODUCTION 



emphasis. To be able to print some small part 
of a subject in its natural color such as the 
green jacket of a spark plug, a red devil, a red 
edge to a shovel or the blue ribbon symbol of 
a tire concern means genuine added attrac- 
tion. It is necessary only to thumb through the 
leaves of any magazine to find endless exam- 
ples of this kind of color treatment. 

If you will refer to the chapter on color it 
will explain the psychological effects of differ- 
ent colors. You must choose your colors wisely 
if you would have your booklet come back for 
a curtain call. Always bear in mind that there 
is a wide gap between a "Trade paper" adver- 
tisement showing a red crane and a "Bro- 
chure" setting forth the glories of "Usenough" 
finger nail polish. 

It is not absolutely necessary for the adver- 
tiser or artist to be acquainted with the dimen- 
sions of color. The division of one color into 
"hue value and chrome" does not affect them. 
Let the color printer worry about the technical 
terms, but let us cultivate a sense of the artis- 
tic. John Ruskin said: "Art is the mirror of a 
Nation's civilization," and if those responsible 
for the work that needs real judgment from an 
artistic standpoint will keep this in mind it 
may help somewhat. 

-+■ Page One Hundred and Fifty-eight •*- 



TINT BLOCKS 



Beware of the overdose of color. Too many 
direct-by-mail folders or broadsides kill the 
victim before he has time to open them up. 
Wild orgy of color and heavy type reminding 
one of the days before prohibition is surely 
giving way to the more appealing touch of re- 
finement. Color is sometimes intended to 
"knock 'em dead" and this is very often the 
case as it is frequently the means of killing the 
message. 

Tint blocks are admirable for many pur- 
poses, but study and intelligent application 
are necessary if unusual techniques are desired. 

Another use of the tint block is the picking 
out of certain parts of the design from an 
ordinary half-tone or line plate for reproduc- 
tion in a second color. A fine illustration of the 
simple use of a line plate and tint block is 
found in the Haynes Automobile Advertise- 
ments. 

The original drawings are made as single 
units in black, and the artist designates the 
parts of the drawings to be colored so that the 
engraver will find no difficulty in separating 
the colors. The engraver simply makes two 
identical negatives and when these are trans- 
ferred to the plates, the black parts are re- 
moved from the red plate, and the red 

-*• Page One Hundred and Fifty-nine ■*- 



REPRODUCTION 



parts do not appear on the black plate. 

Tint blocks have a wide range of uses. Their 
production requires no subtle plate making if 
a sketch or overlay showing the color scheme 
is provided for the guidance of the engraver. 

Here an opportunity is offered for the en- 
graver and artist to work in close collabora- 
tion in order to secure the finest results. It is 
found that frequently a three-color effect may 
be obtained by running the second color over 
the entire design in combination with Ben 
Days in one or both of the colors. 

By the judicious use of tooled whites, bright- 
ness and life may be added. In some advertise- 
ments of this nature the white is limited to one 
or two spots representing perhaps a lighted 
window or reflection. 

Through the use of a second color the charm- 
ing decorative effects can be obtained that 
wonderfully embellish the printed page. 
Bright little silhouette, thumb-nail sketches, 
the Cartouche or decorated frames, richly 
foliated borders and initials all tend to lend 
that touch of "dignity" so much desired nowa- 
days. 

Use a second color, use two or three, but 
use two or three second thoughts as well. It 
costs money to print a second color. 

-»- Page One Hundred and Sixty +- 



CHAPTER XIX 
Color and When 

JM. W. Turner, the great landscape paint- 
• er, seemed to appreciate the fact that 
man's paints were limited in their ability to 
simulate light or luminosity. Although Turner 
is, in the writer's opinion, the greatest of all 
landscape painters and those who are familiar 
with his work have marvelled at his portrayals 
of atmosphere, nevertheless he realized that 
to try and paint the sun, unless on the wane 
or partially obscured by heavy atmosphere, 
was a human impossibility. 

Some writers who have made a scientific 
study of color believe that color has actually 
developed from some of the earliest forms of 
life on this planet and that with few excep- 
tions, color once consisted of foliage green, 
dull yellow browns, which represented de- 
cayed foliage; the greys of rocks and the vari- 
ous dull red, yellow and brown earth colors. 
Scientists claim that plants which depended 
on insects to distribute their propagating pol- 
len, used vivid color to attract these insects. 
(A vampy proposition, some will say.) Never- 
theless, we understand that the plants that 

— * Page One Hundred and Sixty-one •*- 



REPRODUCT ION 



displayed the brightest colors were better fer- 
tilized and were consequently able to outgrow 
their less gaudy rivals. But here we have 
another angle. Plants which had the greatest 
attraction, possessed the ability to attract from 
a distance and so animals quickly learned to 
associate the bright colors of nature with food. 

A very interesting thought on this subject 
can be found in the association of color with 
animal life. Insects and birds who are able to 
live in the air and are not subject to conceal- 
ment, have consequently adopted the bright- 
est colors. Animals that spend most of their 
time in the dark, have generally a dull monot- 
onous color combination. Again, there are 
animals of prey who have adopted combina- 
tions which lend themselves to concealment, 
camouflage, so to speak. Children love color, 
so did the primitive man. We find that color 
combinations were changed and applied in a 
more or less harmonious state by the civiliza- 
tion of the different periods. The gaudy colors 
used by the Indian and African were due 
chiefly to a lack of cultivation, not as some be- 
lieve, to the supply of pigments. 

Our point is this. Color is used or applied 
in the manner or according to the needs, civili- 
zation and cultivation of the masses. 

-*• Page One Hundred and Sixty-two ■*- 



COLOR AND WHEN 

If we were to study color from a scientific 
standpoint, we should find that color is due 
to the difference in the length and rapidity of 
vibrations of ether waves. Those of one length 
and corresponding rapidity would give a 
different color sensation from those of a 
different length and rapidity of vibration. 
However, we shall not burden the reader 
with a lengthy explanation of color from this 
angle. 

The attraction of color and its place and 
value in advertising cannot be over-estimated, 
but its attraction is favorable only when it is 
correctly used, which applies also to a correct 
understanding of its application and repro- 
ductive practicality. Playing with color is like 
driving a car up Fifth Avenue for the first 
time. You do not know when to stop, which 
results in either color indigestion or the white 
slip. When considering color always remember 
there should be a reason for its use, and the 
artist should have a thorough knowledge of its 
handling. 

We would suggest using color when practi- 
cal for the following : which are only a few of 
its numerous possibilities. 

i — As a background spot for a particular 
article advertised. 

-§■ Page One Hundred and Sixty-three ■*- 



REPRODUCTION 



2 — To accentuate a name, label, or trade- 
mark. 

3 — For an eye-catcher to focus attention on 
the characteristics of a product. 

4 — To show a product in its natural colors, 
but as was mentioned before, it is necessary, 
after determining the purpose for color, to 
have a knowledge of its applying principles. 

The medium, in which the advertisement is 
carried, will in some cases decide which colors 
and how much color can be used. The most 
effective colors to use as color spots are as fol- 
lows, stated in their order of effectiveness: 
orange, red and green in full strength. Tints 
of Ben Day of these are sometimes more ac- 
ceptable to the publication, but are less force- 
ful. Trade and technical papers are more apt 
to accept colors in full strength, or "solid" 
as they are called in the engraving business. 

Although, in all probability everyone is 
acquainted with the simple rules for mixing 
colors, we feel that it is advisable to give a 
short prologue pertaining to the combining of 
colors, which will tend to explain how multi- 
colored effects are obtained. 

Red and Yellow make Orange 

Red and Blue make Violet 

Blue and Yellow make Green 

-*• Page One Hundred and Sixty-four ■*- 



COLOR AND WHEN 

Red, yellow and blue will make a fair black 
as will dark blue printed over orange. Violet 
printed over yellow will also approximate 
black. Continuing, we might add that tints 
to match practically any desired scheme may 
be obtained by favoring particular colors. For 
instance, a blue-grey can be obtained by mix- 
ing tints of yellow and red, with a greater pro- 
portion of blue. I f a greater proportion of blue 
is mixed with yellow a blue-green is the result. 

In the actual printing of colors, however, 
certain chemical changes are apt to take place 
which may hinder the desired results, so no 
color chart can be adhered to absolutely. The 
stock used may not have a hard or smooth sur- 
face and may absorb certain qualities of color 
not recorded by the engraver's first proof, 
which is always submitted on fine coated 
paper. The only way to be sure of the quality 
of color that will be obtained in the finished 
work is to have the engraver pull proofs on the 
stock to be used. In this way any possibility 
of chemical change will be detected at the 
start. 

Following are a few words about printing 
inks used in reproduction to-day. The pig- 
ments employed embrace nearly all of those 
produced by the color-makers, but they are 

-*■ Page One Hundred and Sixty-five •*- 



REPRODUCTION 



not all equally suitable for lithographic print- 
ing. The three qualities necessary are bril- 
liancy, permanency, and ease of working. 
Printers will tell you that these qualities are 
possessed in quite different degrees, by the 
various colors. 

Fortunately, nearly all the most trust- 
worthy pigments can be successfully used for 
ordinary work which does not require decided 
permanency, but some of the most brilliant 
ones are not only unpleasant in use but fugi- 
tive in color. 

The question of permanency of color is also 
much misunderstood or considered negligible 
by many of the color printers of tc-day. The 
demand for cheap inks, and, we will allow for 
the inability to obtain really first-class inks at 
this particular time, are great reasons why so 
many of our productions are disappointing. 
We might add that the three great enemies to 
permanency are light, impure air and the 
chemical action of one color upon another. 

There are colors that are recognized as pos- 
sessing certain mental meanings or mental 
imagery, and the advertiser will do well to 
visualize the following examples when making 
his first "rough." Bright red or crimson sug- 
gests heat, love, vitality and passion ; dark red 

— «- Page One Hundred and Sixty-six •*- 



COLOR AND WHEN 

or maroon suggests warmth, solidity and rich- 
ness; pink suggests daintiness, softness or 
coquettishness ; yellow typifies light and is also 
a symbol of warmth, happiness and sunshine ; 
blue is used to represent air, sky and has a cold 
tendency; steel grey suggests strength and 
hardness of steel and, of course, is indicative 
of age and dignity. 

Color has long been identified as a symbol 
of national and racial significance, such as yel- 
low for the Oriental, red for the Negro and 
green for the sons of Erin. Age and sex modify 
color preference to some degree, and so do 
seasons, green in the spring and brown in the 
fall. By a recognition of these rules, the adver- 
tiser is in a position to aim at mental harmony 
as well as page harmony. 

There are many manufacturers who even 
to-day think they are keeping out of trouble by 
keeping away from color and depending on 
black and white for every advertising venture. 
Let it be understood and realized that black 
and white are not colors and in whatever pro- 
portion they are mixed, they produce grey, 
which is neutral and disenergized. Adver- 
tisements of this character are not appealing 
and seem to say "We are not particular if 
you buy or not." 

— *- Page One Hundred and Sixty-seven •*- 



REPRODUCTION 



Nature everywhere shouts with color, it 
speaks of life, is the only proof of life. The 
birds of the air, the fish of the sea proclaim 
their color lessons. Color is a fact. 

Whatever line of business wishes success in 
its advertising must bow to color. 

Color speaks more elegantly than it is given 
credit for and the goods of many a manufac- 
turer are the victims of an unfortunate or un- 
intelligent choice of color either in the goods 
themselves or in their containers. Can you 
imagine a manufacturer of electric bulbs choos- 
ing and insisting on dead black and blood red 
to show off his product ? Yet it is so. The cor- 
rect use of color makes happiness, by making 
people want to buy certain articles. The wrong 
use of color provides mental and moral distress 
and often colic. 

Use color, use- it as often as practical, but 
use it and choose it wisely. 



Page One Hundred and Sixty-eight 



CHAPTER XX 
The Three and Four-Color Processes 

THE three-color process can be defined as 
a process in which the three primary 
colors of a painting or color illustration are 
separated by means of color niters and photog- 
raphy, after which each color sensation is 
etched on copper and then when the plates 
representing yellow, red and blue are superim- 
posed when printing, the result is (or is sup- 
posed to be) a reproduction of the original 
painting in all its combinations of color. How- 
ever it can also be described as the most im- 
portant development of the half-tone process 
of making plates by the use of screens. 

The theories of color in light and in available 
printing inks enter largely into this develop- 
ment. We must understand that white or solar 
light is composed of rays of light of three dis- 
tinct colors, red, green and violet, which are 
called the primary or fundamental colors. 
Because of their combination in various pro- 
portions, all other colors or tones of color are 
produced, but they cannot themselves be pro- 
duced by any combination of any other col- 
ored rays. 

-*■ Page One Hundred and Sixty-nine •*- 



REPRODUCTION 



The theory of pigmental colors (printers' 
inks, artists' colors, etc.), differs from this in 
that the primary or foundation colors from 
which all others are produced, while being 
themselves unproducible by any admixture, 
are yellow, red and blue, and while the com- 
bination of the red, green and violet of the 
scientist will produce white, the combination 
of the primaries of the inks of the printer and 
colors of the artist in their full strength will 
certainly produce a very near black. 

Color is the result of the absorption and the 
reflection of the rays of light which strike upon 
a body. The rays which are reflected are those 
which affect the vision and produce the sense 
of color. Should the object absorb all the rays 
it appears black, should it absorb none but 
reflect all, it is white, and between these two 
extremes lie an infinite variety of tones and 
colors. 

To separate these different colors or rays, 
the ingenious mind invented the color filter 
which will absorb and refuse passage to cer- 
tain colored rays, while permitting the passage 
of others. For example, a photographic filter 
of a certain color will absorb and stop the pas- 
sage of red and green, and permit the passage 
through it of violet. 

— *• Page One Hundred and Seventy ■*- 








M 



Four-color process, showing strips of the progressive 
proofs 



COLOR PROCESSES 

It will then be perceived how, when a pic- 
ture or other colored object is placed before a 
camera, with one of these filters between it and 
the exposed negative, the rays of light of the 
color which pass through the filter to the nega- 
tive will be the only ones which can affect it, 
and it is possible in this way to secure on three 
separate negatives a record of the green, red 
and violet rays which are reflected from its 
colored surface by any object before the 
camera. 

These records are not colored photographs, 
they are simply ordinary negatives, records of 
color values which may be translated into color 
reproduction by the use of colored inks. 

The principle governing the process is 
analysis or separation followed by recombina- 
tion. Positives are made from these color 
records, from which, by means of the rule 
screens already described, half-tone process 
plates are made, which when printed one over 
the other in colored inks, combine again the 
colors which were separated by the filtering 
process and give approximately a reproduc- 
tion of the original in its true colors. The color 
used with each block must have a relation to 
the filter used in its production. It must rep- 
resent a combination of the two colors stopped 

-t- Page One Hundred and Seventy-one ■*- 



REPRODUCTION 



out by the filter when making the negative 
from which the block was made, that is to say 
the color used must be complimentary to the 
colors stopped out. Certain subjects which are 
amenable to long exposures can be dealt with 
by what is known as the "Direct Process," 
whereby the screen negative and the color 
record are made by one operation on the same 
plate. By this means, six of the fifteen other- 
wise necessary operations are saved, but the 
method is not always practicable. 

As far back as 1861 the suggestion was made 
at the Royal Institution by Clark Maxwell, 
to reproduce objects in their natural colors by 
superimposing the three primary colors. Later, 
Baron Ransomut of Vienna, Mr. Collen, a 
gentleman who taught drawing to Queen Vic- 
toria, and two Frenchmen, MM. Chas. Cros 
and Ducos du Hauron, carried on the idea and 
made experiments with the aid of photography 
which were still further developed in Germany 
by Prof. Husnik of Prague, Dr. Vogel of Ber- 
lin, and others; but it was in America that the 
first three-color plates for printing were made, 
by F. E. Ives, at Philadelphia. 

This three-color process has made great ad- 
vances in recent years. The first great practi- 
cal difficulty which had to be overcome was to 

-+ Page One Hundred and Seventy-two ■*- 




[or tfie piano 




Newark 



■■OB 



The four-color process. By the Courtesy of Huntzinger 
& Dilworth, New York. Plates by the Sterling 
Engraving Co., N. Y. C. 



COLOR PROCESSES 

produce three screen plates which could be 
printed one over the other. Were the screens of 
each block used at the same angle, the lines and 
dots would print on top of one another, but a 
great deal of the color result depends upon a 
considerable proportion of each color being on 
the white paper. Artists know that much purer 
and more brilliant colors are produced by plac- 
ing touches of color side by side than one over 
another. For instance small patches of red and 
blue, placed side by side, yield to the eye a 
purple of much greater purity and beauty than 
the same touches of color worked over each 
other. 

Consequently it was found necessary to turn 
the screen at a different angle for each plate, 
so that the lines should not fall on each other, 
but the risk of this is, that used at certain 
angles, the crossing of the screen lines will pro- 
duce what is known as the "Moire Antique" 
result. Vogel took out a patent in Great Brit- 
ain for the process, and he therein stated that 
the screen should be used at certain stated 
angles. He also proposed to use single-line 
screens similar to those used by F. E. Ives at 
Philadelphia, instead of cross line, but it has 
since been found that the cross or double-line 
screens can be used successfully and that the 

-»- Page One Hundred and Seventy-three •*- 



REPRODUCTION 



angle at which they are to be used is not a 
fixed one. 

Filters are made in dry or wet forms. The 
dry filter is made by spreading a film of gela- 
tine or collodion tinted by an aniline color, 
upon a piece of glass. The wet filter is a cell or 
trough made of two sheets of glass sealed all 
around and filled with water tinted with an 
aniline dye or color. The accuracy of the tint 
of the color-filter may be tested by the spec- 
troscope, or an instrument invented by Sir 
William Abney, and known as the Abney color 
sensitometer. This is a theoretical test. The 
practical test is by photographing through 
them patches of blue, red and yellow. If, for 
example, the filter of blue records the full 
strength of blue with the full strength of the 
color of the negative, while giving slight or no 
record at all of the red and yellow, it is practi- 
cally a true filter. It is possible to treat the 
negatives themselves so as to render them 
more sensitive to the special color they are 
intended to record. Indeed, Dr. Albert of 
Munich has produced a collodion emulsion 
which is so sensitized that the various color 
sensations are directly obtained without the 
interposition of the color filter. Different makes 
of plates demand different color filters. The 

-•- Page One Hundred and Seventy-four •*- 



COLOR PROCESSES 

preparation of these color filters calls for great 
perfection of quality in the material employed, 
and great accuracy in the using of them. The 
glass, whether for the dry or wet filter, must 
be absolutely flat as to its surface, and its two 
sides must be absolutely parallel. In the wet 
filter, the glasses forming the sides of the cell 
or trough are parallel to each other. 

Colored glass is sometimes used in combina- 
tion with the colored collodion, but there is no 
particular advantage in this, because two 
glasses are always used in the making of a 
filter, and each one may, if desired, be coated 
with different dyes and afterwards cemented 
together with Canadian balsam. 

The following dyes or their equivalents form 
a basis for nearly all three color filters : 

For the red printing negatives: Green 
Yellow. 

For the blue printing negatives : Red Yellow. 

For the yellow printing negatives: Violet 
Green. 

The first dye named is the base color in each 
case, the second being employed in small pro- 
portions to produce the required modification 
of tint. 

The theory of the three-color process is that 
the same three colors should be used for the 

-*■ Page One Hundred and Seventy-Jive +- 



REPRODUCTION 



printing of every subject, and there is no 
doubt that if the nitration were perfect and 
the printing inks absolutely pure, the theory 
would work out fairly correctly in practice, 
but there is room for improvement in both 
these matters, and it is therefore often found 
desirable to print special subjects with special 
pigments, which makes it difficult to print 
several subjects together. Special care is called 
for on the part of the printer. There must be 
the most perfect register of the three subjects, 
otherwise a blurred effect results. There must 
be constant watchfulness to see that there is 
no excess of ink of any one color, or the whole 
scheme of color will be destroyed. This three- 
color process has been rather a long time in 
establishing itself and nothing has so tended 
to retard it as bad printing. Good plates have 
been obtainable, but in the hands of ordinary 
printers they have yielded but indifferent re- 
sults. It is hardly to be expected that the un- 
trained eye of the ordinary printer should be 
successful where the work requires the culti- 
vated judgment of an artist. There is one 
other necessity for success in all tone work and 
that is the use of the right quality of paper and 
ink. The plates are so delicate that they soon 
fill up if an excess of ink is used. Ink of a good 

-*• Page One Hundred and Seventy-six •*- 



COLOR PROCESSES 

quality can be used in much less quantity than 
common kinds, but it must be impressed upon 
paper that is sympathetic and will bear out 
the ink. 

The best results can be obtained only with 
the use of what is known as coated paper. It is 
a paper which, after manufacture, is passed 
through a bath or preparation of china clay, 
which, by means of brushes, is rubbed into the 
surface of the paper. When dry the surface 
takes a high polish and is sensitive to the 
smallest amount of ink. The polish of this 
coated paper is objectionable to many readers 
of illustrated books and the clay adds con- 
siderably to the weight. Paper makers are, 
however, supplying a dull-surfaced highly 
calendered rag paper which is very good for 
artistic and scientific illustrations and obvi- 
ates both the glossy surface and the supposed 
lack of permanency of coated paper. 

The following are a few important details 
that should be known. They are probably in- 
fringing in technical phraseology, but should 
nevertheless be understood. 

Illustrations in which there is a quantity of 
blue are photographed through a red or yel- 
low filter. This makes the tone value practi- 
cally as the eye sees it. To obtain a plate for 

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REPRODUCTION 



yellow parts of the illustration, a violet filter 
is used and then a green filter for the red plate. 

The angle of the screens varies for each color 
so as to avoid the pattern or moire effects that 
would result if the screens were used at the 
same angle. The blue plate is usually taken 
with the screen angle at 45 degrees (this is also 
the angle used in making a straight half-tone 
to print in only one color), the yellow plate 
with the screen angle at 30 degrees to the right 
of the perpendicular and the red plate with 
the screen at 60 degrees from the perpendicular. 

In the case of the four-color process, an 
additional plate is used, this being generally a 
black plate. Better results are naturally ob- 
tained by the use of four colors, especially 
where there are many shades of grey or neu- 
tral tones, brilliant blues and greens and solid 
black. These colors are impossible to get when 
only the three primary colors are used. 

In the four-color process the black plate is 
usually the key plate, thereby giving strength 
to the detail of the subject. In the three-color 
process it is necessary for all three plates to 
carry correct color values and graduations to 
obtain really satisfactory results, whereas, in 
the four-color process, parts of the finer detail 
left to be brought out by colors in the former 

-*- Page One Hundred and Seventy-eight •»- 



COLOR PROCESSES 

process are carried in the more definite black 
key plate. 

The filter used in making this black key plate 
is uncertain, depending solely on the nature of 
the subject. Sometimes an orange filter is used 
or it may have to be green or yellow. The angle 
of the screens also changes from that used in 
three-color work. 

The engraver of process color plates always 
has in mind, when making the plates, that they 
are to be used on high-grade coated stock. 
When the advertiser is going to use a dull- 
finished white or tinted paper, the engraver 
should be advised of the fact and a number of 
sheets of any special stock should be furnished 
him so that he may pull proofs on the actual 
stock to be used. The screen manner of etching 
and color combinations are all affected by the 
use of unusual stock. 

Process color plates are, as a rule, made with 
either the 133 or 150-line screens, but special 
work requiring different screens than these can 
be accomplished. 

All these processes are attended to by men 
who specialize in some particular branch of the 
work. For instance, the man who takes the 
negative is seldom capable of doing expert 
work in the etching department, for the man 

-*■ Page One Hundred and Seventy-nine •*— 



REPRODUCTION 



who etches is also a specialist in his line and so 
on through the various branches of reproduc- 
tion. 

The following essay will naturally explain 
more of this wonderful process, and the view- 
point will be appreciated. 



Page One Hundred and Eighty 



CHAPTER XXI 

Complications Connected with 
Color-plate Making 

An Essay by 

The Sterling Engraving Co. 

New York City 

MODERN miracles take place in photo- 
engraving establishments daily, though 
little notice is taken of them, because they are 
so common. I refer to the reproduction in three 
or four printings of all the colors of the rain- 
bow and, besides, many colors that never were 
in a rainbow, from Noah's day to our time. 

If advertisers, artists, publishers and all of 
those interested in color printing but knew 
some of the complications connected with 
color-plate making, they might restrain the 
artist, instead of encouraging him into freak 
flights into the realm of color, frequently im- 
possible of reproduction. They would also have 
more respect for the paper maker, ink maker 
and pressman, but, above all, congratulate the 
photoengraver for his marvelous accomplish- 
ment, which frequently does border on the 
miraculous. 

Without going into the intricate optical and 
other scientific questions, I will review here 

-*■ Page One Hundred and Eighty-one •*- 



REPRODUCTION 



briefly just a few of the more easily under- 
stood problems that enter into three- and four- 
color plate making. This is done in the hope 
that through a knowledge of them the artist 
will co-operate with the photoengraver toward 
better color printing and the advertiser and 
publisher will not expect miracles to increase 
at their command. 

When William Kurtz, at No. 6 East 23rd 
Street, New York, made the first practical 
three-color plates by photoengraving, it should 
be remembered that it was but a few years ago 
and the improvements in the art that have 
taken place since are equal to those that have 
taken place in any of the revolutionary dis- 
coveries of our period in history. These first 
three-color plates made by Kurtz were pub- 
lished as a frontispiece in the Engraver and 
Printer, of Boston, for March, 1893, with this 
title: "Photography in Colors. Taken from 
Nature, by W. Kurtz, Madison Square, New 
York. Printed in three colors on the Steam 
Press." This picture made a great sensation, 
of course. It involved more invention than 
the voyage of the Clermont up the Hudson 
River, as the first propelled steamboat, or the 
flight of Orville Wright in the first heavier- 
than-air machine. Today three-color plate 

-+ Page One Hundred and Eighty-two -*- 



COLOR-PLATE MAKING 

making is looked upon as a matter of course, 
like the steamship and aeroplane. When one 
considers, in Kurtz's day, the lack of modern 
scientific lenses, aniline dyes, photographic 
plates, colored inks and printing presses that 
would register, then this pioneer three-color 
printing of Kurtz does enter the marvelous. 

Just as soon as the work of Kurtz was shown 
to the world, far-seeing men sensed the possi- 
bilities of this wonderful invention, in educa- 
tion, advertising and civilization itself. Like 
a rush to newly discovered gold fields, in- 
ventors, scientists and artists began to study 
how they could improve upon it. Experiments 
then began, have not ended yet, though of late 
they have been concentrated on "movies" in 
color. Great fortunes have been burned up in 
color photography. One woman admits to hav- 
ing sunk nearly a quarter million dollars. Little 
publicity was given to these losses, though we 
are all enjoying benefits from these unknown 
experimenters, through the beautiful color 
printing we enjoy today. 

It is only those who give their lives to color- 
plate making that understand the evolution 
that has been brought about in the making of 
aniline dyes, color filters, lenses, photographic 
plates, electric lights and the artisan's skill 

-*• Page One Hundred and Eighty-three •*- 



REPRODUCTION 



during the past quarter century. While there 
is one important factor that has not improved, 
and that is color vision. In fact it is said that 
normal color perception is decreasing, owing 
to the increased use of tobacco. As there are 
no two pair of human eyes that have precisely 
the same sensitiveness to all colors, one can ap- 
preciate how important this question of partial 
color blindness is in discussing this subject. 
Let us consider for a moment a few of the 
effects of varying color vision and the differ- 
ence daylight and its substitutes have on this 
question of three-color reproduction. The 
artist usually paints his picture to be repro- 
duced, in daylight. The engraver either photo- 
graphs the artist's painting in daylight, or 
illuminates the painting with special electric 
lights that approach daylight as closely as 
possible. The engraver's proof of this painting 
should be compared with the painting in day- 
light, for several reasons. One is that the in- 
candescent electric lights, under which the 
comparisons are usually made, vary so in the 
light rays which they emit. Some electric 
lights are rich in yellow rays, then they may 
give off violet rays, which are destructive to 
so many colors. The artist's paints and the pig- 
ments used in the inks are composed of differ- 

-* Page One Hundred and Eighty-four •*- 



COLOR-PLATE MAKING 

ent chemical elements which vary greatly 
when viewed by daylight or these vari-colored 
electric lights. Every artist knows how artificial 
light will change his color schemes; he should 
also know that the pigments in colored printing 
inks change in hues, but in different ways 
from those of his paints. 

The source of most of the trouble which we 
photoengravers experience in the reproduc- 
tion of commercial paintings is the advertiser. 
He too often asks the artist for "Something 
that will knock your eye out." He gets what 
he wants, though it knocks much money out 
of the engraver's pocket before he gets it re- 
produced in three-colored printing inks. The 
advertiser has a weakness for "Peacock Blues," 
"Emerald Greens," "Royal Purples," "Per- 
sian Oranges," "Golden Yellows," etc. They 
sound rich to him and he thinks they will give 
him his money's worth. Questions of artistic 
harmony, contrast, balance, composition and 
beauty he is not concerned with. He wants a 
picture that will shock one into taking notice 
of it and the result is shocking. The artist 
knows better and so does the advertising 
agency, but in the endeavor to please the 
buyer-advertiser, they allow all the rules of 
good taste to be set aside and give the adver- 

-* Page One Hundred and Eighty-five *- 



REPRODUCTION 



tiser in the painted original what he wants and 
then the engraver's trouble begins. 

All the effects the advertiser seeks could be 
obtained if we were permitted to use two reds, 
two blues, a yellow, gray and black printing 
blocks, making seven printings, as the lithog- 
rapher does, but the engraver is confined to 
three colors and a black. Could each piece of 
color work be printed separately, it would be 
possible for the photoengraver to manipulate 
the engravings and so mix the printing inks 
as to satisfy the most critical, but color plates 
from different advertisers and engravers must 
be gathered into the forms of magazines and 
printed with identically the same inks on the 
same paper stock, regardless of the different 
color schemes of the artists. Is it to be won- 
dered at that there is some complaint when one 
considers that if all these artists' original paint- 
ings were hung together on the same wall it is 
not likely they would harmonize. 

To bring about harmony in the printing of 
three-color process blocks, produced by differ- 
ent engravers, the American Photoengravers' 
Association adopted unanimously standard 
three-color inks and all users of color printing 
should know the reason for these precise hues 
chosen. They are the result of twenty-five 

-+ Page One Hundred and Eighty-six •*- 



COLOR-PLATE MAKING 

years of daily practical experience. Every pos- 
sible combination of hues has been tried and 
the hues adopted by the convention are the 
ones that have survived all tests. These inks 
are made from pigments that will best stand 
exposure to sunlight; the ingredients of which 
they are compounded can be ground sufficient- 
ly fine and will mix perfectly with the linseed 
oil and varnishes that bind the pigments to the 
paper. Further they will work satisfactorily on 
the press by laying smoothly over each other. 
As to the hues of the adopted inks, the yel- 
low contains no red, being what is known as a 
pure lemon yellow. The red ink contains no 
yellow, in order that pinks and purples may 
be produced with it; the blue ink is as free 
from red as possible. Every artist will recog- 
nize that with these pure primary colors, the 
secondaries and tertiaries may be had, as they 
are mixed on his palette with this difference — 
that as his paints are usually opaque, the pri- 
mary printing inks must be transparent, with 
the exception of the one printed first, which is 
usually the yellow. Another thing might be 
mentioned here. The artist usually presents 
his painting in a suitable frame, while the 
engraver shows his proof with a wide border 
of ghastly white paper around it, which shocks 

-*■ Page One Hundred and Eighty-seven ■*- 



REPRODUCTION 



one at once. If engravers' proofs were seen only 
with a gray mat, how much more acceptable 
they would be! 

Fortunately for all concerned a great change 
is going on in the attitude of the artist-painter 
toward advertising. He finds that "Art for 
art's sake" does not pay as well, sometimes, as 
art for advertising. Painters frequently fur- 
nish the most satisfactory copy for three- and 
four-color reproduction, though they are most 
critical of the result. We photoengravers wel- 
come the Raphaels and Titians of our day to 
advertising art and believe they will be as 
successful as Joe Lyendecker, Maxfield Par- 
rish, Coles Phillips, and others are when they 
learn by experience what not to do and lay 
their palettes accordingly. 

To the painters who contemplate turning 
their talent to advertising art, to experienced 
illustrators, to advertisers and agencies, these 
few lines, giving an engraver's view-point, are 
offered in the hope that all may learn some- 
thing regarding the obstacles in the way of the 
photoengraver. That they may "be a little 
blind" to the slight failures in reproduction, 
remembering Pope's lines : 

"He who expects a faultless piece to see, 
Expects what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er shall be." 

-*• Page One Hundred and Eighty-eight •*- 



CHAPTER XXII 
The Prismatone Process 

w u A \ BONDERS will never cease." "Prisma- 
VV tone solves color problems.'* "New 
process of gravure in color without the use 
of screen or color separation negatives was 
invented by 'Father' of the Rotogravure 
process." Such are the first startling announce- 
ments made of this wonderful new process of 
reproduction that is bound to revolutionize 
the industry. 

When an inventive genius brings forth a 
new creation in any field of endeavor, the spot- 
light is turned on for a while only to be re- 
focused on another seemingly more worth- 
while offering from some other source. This 
generic process of reviewing the progress of 
achievement goes on indefinitely and here we 
come to pay tribute to the greatest of the pres- 
ent-day developments of the printing industry. 

The printing industry was already advanced 
to a high state of efficiency ; inventions have 
been brought to light that have startled the 
cleverest in the field. They have been kept 
continually on the watch to learn what was 
going to happen next and each improvement 

-*- Page One Hundred and Eighty-nine ■*- 



REPRODUCTION 



has brought forth heartfelt approvals from 
everyone. 

Perhaps in no other line of industry has 
there been a more rapid development than in 
color reproduction. Great strides have been 
taken in this particular work and apparently 
there is no end. Prismatone seems to be the 
acme in this field. It has extraordinary ad- 
vantages over all existing color-printing proc- 
esses, and there is a vast field in all branches of 
commercial printing open to this wonderful 
new process. It has always been maintained 
that the time would come when there would 
be a radical change over the processes of the 
past and as soon as the work of Prismatone is 
seen it is convincing that it has solved a great 
problem of color reproduction. 

It is the product of Charles W. Saalburg, 
who is sometimes called the ' 'Father" of the 
rotogravure process universally used today in 
the printing of pictorial supplements of daily 
and Sunday newspapers. It is described as a 
process gravure in colors without the use of 
screen or color separation negatives and, it is 
claimed, will solve all problems which have 
heretofore prevented the successful produc- 
tion of pictorial color work. 

By this process exquisite color work from 

-**■ Page One Hundred and Ninety •*- 



PRISM ATONE PROCESS 

an ordinary photograph or exact reproduc- 
tion can be made from color drawings, paint- 
ings, or life. All previous attempts to develop 
color gravure have proven futile, owing not 
only to the tremendous expense involved, but 
to the technical difficulties encountered, para- 
mount of which being the impossibility to 
secure good register. Not only is Prismatone 
of a higher quality than anything heretofore 
attained, but can be produced at a lower cost 
than lithography or any other color process. 

Prismatone eliminates the cost of making 
expensive color sketches. All that is necessary 
is a black and white drawing or photograph. 
There also is a great saving in the cost of 
original color engravings, electrotypes and 
"make-ready,' ' always necessary in printing on 
letterpress machines. There are no electro- 
types or make-ready in the Prismatone process. 
Particular attention is directed to the colored 
newspaper illustrations, which are another tri- 
umph for this process. Never before has any- 
thing even approximating these results been 
attained with ordinary newspaper stock, mak- 
ing it possible for publishers to display the 
latest news in full color — a truly remarkable 
accomplishment. 

The press will print on both sides of a sheet, 

-+- Page One Hundred and Ninety-one ■*- 



REPRODUCTION 



four to eight colors in one operarion, at a speed 
of from 3,500 to 8,000 an hour and will print 
on newspaper stock at an even greater speed, 
made possible by the use of a very quick dry- 
ing ink perfected by the inventor of the process 
and which eliminates the possibility of smudg- 
ing, yet retaining all delicate shadings, tones 
and colors. The presses will not only print, but 
can also fold and deliver the sheets ready for 
insertion in newspapers or magazines. 

One of the most remarkable things about it 
is the result you get on the commonest kind 
of stock. Where other high-grade printing re- 
quires specially made paper, the Prismatone 
process laughs at the difficulties the engraver 
and printer encounter with ordinary grades 
of stock. All papers look alike to Prismatone. 
It is the only process that can boast of the 
three primary factors of price, quality and 
speed. 

In reviewing the possibilities of the process 
with the inventor himself, the writer was 
shown how the simplicity of the whole idea 
made it practical and economical. The strength 
and wearing qualities of the etchings will out- 
live any other form of plate; this is due to the 
remarkable manner of etching. The cylinder 
is somewhat similar to the rotogravure inas- 

-+ Page One Hundred and Ninety-two •*- 



PRISM ATONE PROCESS 

much that it is an intaglio plate and the doctor 
knife is also part of the machine's equipment. 

The outstanding features of the whole 
process seem to be as follows : 

The camera is not an essential part of the 
equipment; it is not used to impress the 
images or copy on the cylinders. In some cases, 
however (for there is more than one method 
of procedure), the camera is used to make just 
one negative and then a positive. Never is it 
used to make the sets of negatives and posi- 
tives ordinarily required for the different 
colors, as in other processes. Only one negative 
is used in Prismatone when the camera is used 
at all. 

Prismatone does away with the old style 
intaglio screens which are made up of squares 
of varying areas and depths, the dark por- 
tions of the subject being carried by the larger 
and deeper areas and the lighter portions by 
smaller and shallow areas. It is claimed that 
these small, shallow cavities were always 
liable to be injured by the action of the con- 
stantly working doctor knife, sometimes dis- 
appearing altogether when the run was long. 
The great secret of the new process is the 
application of a grain to the printing surface, 
the depth of each cavity being exactly the 

-*■ Page One Hundred and Ninety-three •*- 



REPRODUCTION 



same, no matter how large or small the area. 
This is the reason for the practically unending 
wearing quality of the plate. 

The grain method of printing has no ruling 
or pattern whatsoever; there is no chance of 
bad register or of forming a bad "pattern," 
the use of only one negative doing away with 
all chances of such. Imagine the saving of time 
and expense of such a process ! 

In the method employed of putting the 
images on the cylinders without the aid of the 
camera, it was pointed out how it is impossible 
to have the plates out of register and how it 
differed from the old method of carbon trans- 
fer by being a direct method. It is well under- 
stood how the carbon transfer can, on occa- 
sions, become erratic. It must be dampened 
when it is sensitized and again saturated with 
hot water when transferring to the copper cylin- 
der and anyone experienced in the work will tell 
you how the weather will affect the carbon 
paper. It is claimed that the Prismatone 
process is absolutely reliable in this respect, as 
no water or chemicals are used in the method 
of transferring. 

Mr. Saalburg says there is no such thing as 
hit-and-miss in this process; it is just "hit" all 
the time. There is no doubt that it is a refined 

-+ Page One Hundred and Ninety-jour *- 



PRISM ATONE PROCESS 

process, for elimination is the keynote of the 
whole procedure; everything that savored of 
trouble was cleverly eliminated from the start. 
We shall hear more of this soon and more- 
over we shall soon see more of it, we know, for 
we have seen. 



-+• Page One Hundred and Ninety-five 



CHAPTER XXIII 
The Purpose of the Matrix 

An essay by 

The Schaefer Company 

New York City 

THE Matrix plays its own truly important 
part in the ever-growing field of adver- 
tising activities. It is the most economical 
means of duplicating plates, but is often un- 
appreciated and not given the consideration 
and credit to which it is entitled. The reason 
is this: entirely too much is asked of the 
"Mat." All advertisers have learned that the 
133-line half-tone is not suitable for news- 
paper work and it must be understood that 
the matrix also has its own limitations. When 
mats are to be used, the artist should be 
familiar with the fact and make his drawings 
accordingly. Too much fine detail will not 
produce the desired results and the artist 
must learn sooner or later just how far he can 
go to enable the matrix maker to perform his 
share of the work without handicap. 

The advertiser is very often unreasonable in 
expecting the matrix, which, as we said before, 
is the cheapest means of reproducing, to re- 
produce something for magazine work or the 

-»- Page One Hundred and Ninety-seven ■*- 



REPRODUCTION 



higher class of printing equal to the more ex- 
pensive duplicate plates. When he does not 
get the desired results he condemns the ma- 
trix. This is not the fault of the mat, but the 
inexperience of the user. 

Newspaper work seems to be the big suit of 
the matrix and in this it is unquestionably a 
practical and economical procedure. 

If the drawings are practical for newspaper 
printing (and to be practical they must be 
simple), the matrix will be. Newspaper print- 
ing is rapid and rough and the simpler the de- 
tail, the better the results. Study the matrix; 
test it out. You cannot drive a Ford a hundred 
miles an hour, but you can get service and 
economy out of one. 

Speaking of the facilities of the newspapers 
to handle a matrix, altogether there are about 
19,000 newspapers printed in the United 
States, but of this number only 2,800 are in a 
position to use mats at all, and only about 
1,050 of these are equipped to handle them 
properly and get good results. It is easy to 
understand the limitations of the matrix from 
this angle, and although a great many small 
newspapers have casting boxes and make vain 
attempts to make use of the matrix, the re- 
sults are in many cases poor and consequently 

-*■ Page One Hundred and Ninety-eight ■+- 



THE MATRIX 



disappointing to the user and condemning to 
the maker. 

The i ,050 first- and second-class newspapers 
throughout the country are equipped to handle 
mats correctly; they have rotary presses and 
complete stereotype outfits. This work re- 
quires skilled operators and skilled operators 
require and demand good mats. 

The question arises : ' 'What is a good mat ?' ' 
A good mat is made from the proper materials 
and given the proper care in making. It is com- 
posed of two layers of blotting paper and two 
or three sheets of the finest grade of tissue, 
made especially for this purpose. These are 
put together with a special paste. Of course 
there are different grades of paste, tissue and 
matrix paper, and many mat makers are using 
an inferior grade of material to enable them 
to sell at a low price, with the result that they 
make a poor mat. A mat that is shallow will 
not reproduce clearly and is apt to blister when 
a cast is taken from it, the result being that the 
advertiser trying mats for the first time, is 
disappointed and will not give them a further 
trial. 

This apparent libel is an injustice to the 
conscientious and practical mat maker and 
if the same rule were used in condemning other 

-*■ Page One Hundred and Ninety-nine ■*- 



REPRODUCTION 



poor examples of plate making, it would end 
quite seriously for many photoengravers. 

How is a good mat made? The process of 
making a mat is a simple one. The original cut 
is laid on a flat slab of metal. Strips of metal 
the same thickness as the cut are laid all 
around it, allowing the stereotyper to make his 
cast without injuring the original. The slab is 
now rolled through a matrix roller, the cut 
receiving a pressure of 6,000 pounds through a 
felt moulding blanket. The metal slab is then 
placed under a steam-heated drying press and 
the mat allowed to dry three or four minutes 
under a pressure of 25 tons. If this work is not 
given the proper length of time, the result will 
be visible in the mat. It must dry under pres- 
sure or the paper will not adhere properly, nor 
will the detail be clear and sharp. 

There are very few concerns in the United 
States to-day who are making matrices, as 
they should be made, too much attention being 
given to speed and price. The properly-made 
matrix will reproduce a newspaper advertise- 
ment when given the care in making. Our own 
experience with newspapers has shown us that 
a well-made mat is received and handled by 
the local stereotyper with more care than an 
inferior grade of electrotypes. 

-*- Page Two Hundred •*- 



THE MATRIX 



Like every other economical product, the 
mat is condemned because of its apparent sim- 
plicity. As an experiment, let any advertiser 
send out a certain advertisement with suitable 
illustration adaptable to the mat with the 
same number of electrotypes to newspapers of 
the same class, and note the result. 

The reproducing of the half-tone in matrix 
is generally believed to be practically impos- 
sible, but when it is remembered that the only 
half-tones used in newspapers and rough print- 
ing are those of coarse screen, it is understood 
that they are adaptable to this method of 
duplicating. The advertiser who uses more 
than a 65-line half-tone for newspaper repro- 
duction is taking a big chance of being keenly 
disappointed at the result. 

We know that a matrix can be made of a 
half-tone of 55 to 65 lines that is practically 
fool-proof and the advertiser must realize the 
economy of such a process. If the advertiser 
will select suitable illustrations, specify the 
correct screen and insist on a good deep half- 
tone plate, he may be assured that a good 
matrix will give splendid results. 

A list of newspapers, about 1,600, which 
can Rateuse mats safely is issued by the 
Standard and Data Service. This list 

-+ Page Two Hundred and One +- 



REPRODUCTION 



covers the larger cities of 30,000 or more in 
habitants. 

Good subject for illustrations and the 
proper selection of the newspaper list, com- 
bined with well-made mats of good material 
and workmanship, make it a safe and econom- 
ical method of reproducing advertisements. 

The difference in regard to the cost between 
a really high-grade matrix and one of the 
cheaper variety, is too small to be considered, 
it should play no part whatsoever and the mat- 
rix that will produce and give satisfactory re- 
sults should be demanded just as other good 
elements of the whole advertising scheme are 
sought after and demanded. 

There is another process of matrix making, 
known as the dry mat process, which, we feel, 
will ultimately supplant all other methods. It 
is a German invention and seemingly not as 
yet past the experimental stage. During the 
period of the war, several American firms 
made them, but none that we have seen can 
compare with those made in Germany and 
England. These are again being imported into 
this country, but at a prohibitive price. 

While the dry mat will reproduce well, there 
is an inclination to buckle very easily when 
the cast is taken, which of course makes them, 

-+ Page Two Hundred and Two ■*- 



THE MATRIX 



to a certain extent, unreliable and unsafe to 
send out. However this important feature, no 
doubt, will eventually be corrected and over- 
come. 

Strictly speaking, the present dry mat is 
not practical for syndicate mat purposes and 
although the foreign mats are in many ways 
far superior to the domestic made mats, the 
odds are against them. The high cost of im- 
porting, unreliability and the cost of material, 
which is about three times higher, are big 
items when considering the matrix as chiefly 
an economical product. 

The process of moulding the dry mat is 
exactly the same as in making the wet or 
ordinary matrix with the exception that they 
do not need to be dried by heat and are sent 
out just as they are moulded. 



-h Page Two Hundred and Three ■*- 



CHAPTER XXIV 
Crayon and Charcoal Drawings 

TH E reproductive qualities of crayon and 
charcoal, either for line or half-tone, are 
excellent. It is a fairly new technique and if 
wisely handled and the size reduction is not 
too great, is sure to obtain pleasing results 
from the engraver and printer. 

There is, however, a subtle suggestion of 
atmosphere in the free, sketchy illustrations, 
which is quite a relief from the general run of 
conventional stuff and worked to death pen 
and ink. 

The only objection worth making is the 
tendency to smudge if care is not taken of the 
original drawing until the engraver has dene 
his part. For this reason, it is always advisable 
to have the drawing made on stiff rough-sur- 
faced board, especially where line plates are to 
be made. 

The artist, in this case, should guard against 
indirect handling which is apt to be dirty, for 
it is unfair to ask an engraver to make a line 
plate from a charcoal drawing, when there is 
evidence of indistinct grey or washed out 
lines. If the drawing were for half-tone repro- 

-+- Page Two Hundred and Five •*- 



REPRODUCTION 



duction, these would not be objectionable. 

Drawings of this nature, made on smooth 
surface paper or board, will generally require 
half-tone plates, and these are only suitable 
for printing on coated or smooth stock. A nov- 
elty of technique can also be had by putting 
an all-over tint of grey on the whole drawing, 
and having the whites ' 'tooled' ' out on the 
plates in order to accentuate certain parts of 
the composition, or for high-lights, windows of 
buildings, etc. 

These should be designated on the drawing 
by the artist. There is a process of plate-mak- 
ing known as the "High Light Process," which 
is excellent for the reproduction of this class of 
illustration. This process is described in the 
chapter on "Half-tones," page iS. 



-*■ Page Two Hundred and Six 



CHAPTER XXV 
Silver Prints 

IT perhaps sounds a little off the subject of 
reproduction to talk about silver prints, 
but a short discourse on this old but appar- 
ently unappreciated method of making a true 
to life copy of practically anything from a bull's 
foot to a bird's-eye view of a whole industrial 
district will be useful to the advertiser. 

We feel that where the artist does not know 
how or when to use a silver print, it is up to the 
advertising man to know. 

When it comes to speed, the silver print 
takes the cup. It takes about twenty minutes 
for the photographer or engraver to make one 
from any original photograph, and when the 
artist has finished his job only ten minutes 
more is required to bleach and thoroughly 
wash the print before it is ready to "shoot." 

Silver prints can be enlarged or reduced 
from the photograph to any size and made to 
any degree of strength to suit the particular 
need of the subject or the desire of the artist. 
Here we might add, there is a chance for the 
artist's genius, to put in and leave out such 
parts and detail in order to give the best re- 

-+ Page Two Hundred and Seven ■*- 



REPRODUCTI ON 



suits. Some men find it easy to bring out fine 
qualities of technique. One artist expressed it 
as "just like eating pie." It is equivalent to 
tracing on a photograph, but as we said before, 
it is knowing how much to put in and how 
much to leave out, that proves the genius. 

It would perhaps serve a purpose to explain 
a few of the most important points of handling 
the silver print itself, so as to keep it from 
giving a patched up appearance on the draw- 
ing and to preserve it for filing. 

After the silver print has been worked over 
by the artist, it is bleached out and all that is 
left is the actual work of the artist in ink on 
the bleached white photographic paper. (It is 
sometimes advisable to let the advertiser see 
the unbleached job, where the subject is diffi- 
cult and contains an amount of detail, as in 
some mechanical subjects.) 

An artist should obtain a bottle of the neces- 
sary bleach to keep in his own studio, so that 
he will not be compelled to resort to the en- 
graver to bleach his drawing. He will probably 
have to secure it from an engraver, as "Cy- 
anide of Potassium" is a deadly poison. The 
greatest care should be taken in its use. The 
hands should be thoroughly washed after 
using and should be free from cuts and 

-* Page Two Hundred and Eight -*- 




Illustrating the use of the Silver-print, the lower part being 
unbleached. Courtesy of Paul Pandolfi, Rome. Combina- 
tion plate by H. C. Jones Engraving Co. 



SILVER PRINTS 



scratches, which might become infected. Im- 
mediately after bleaching, wash the print in 
running water for four or five minutes to re- 
move every vestige of the fluid. Careful wash- 
ing is the secret of a white print. The result of 
careless work is a yellow, sickly job, which gets 
worse as it gets older. The best method of 
washing is to place the print on a piece of glass 
and keep it under the running faucet. 

Do not have the prints made until the artist 
is ready to work on them, and try to keep the 
sun or any other strong light from them as 
this makes them turn dull, and probably too 
dark to work on, besides obliterating fine de- 
tail. Completed drawings should be filed in a 
cabinet and in the dark, if they are to be kept 
from deterioration. 

In a recent article in Printers Ink monthly, 
it is explained that a special rough-surfaced 
board is obtainable on which silver prints can 
be made. 

This makes it possible for those who wish to 
use crayon to obtain good effect as the grain 
of the board provides "purchase" for this pop- 
ular medium. 

The bleaching qualities are exactly the same 
as those of the conventional smooth surface 
print. 

-*• Page Two Hundred and Nine •*- 



CHAPTER XXVI 
"The Reducing Glass" 

THE reducing glass is a help in some cases 
but is apt to be misleading and treacher- 
ous, if used as a means of judging the print- 
ability of drawings. The glass will permit a 
reduced view of the work, but the difference 
between the keen exactness of the eye and the 
actual printing of the plate on paper provided 
by the news presses, for instance, or on coarse 
stock with poor ink, is as different as a "Lizzie" 
and a "Rolls Royce." 

It is not possible to lay down a rule for the 
amount of reduction to be made when photo- 
graphing for the reduction : the finer the detail 
the less should be the reduction made, but 
experience is the only guide. The reducing glass 
will portray a clear, bright impression, in 
miniature of the original drawing, but it does 
in no sense make any allowance for the loss of 
detail caused by mechanical reproduction. It 
is common knowledge that in 95% of photo- 
mechanical reproductions the tendency is to 
lose rather than to add to the appearance of 
the original subject. 

-#■ Page Two Hundred and Eleven •*- 



REPRODUCTION 



Faulty drawing is not lessened by reduction. 
On the contrary, the fault becomes more 
evident. 

If you must know what it looks like, there is 
only one way. Have a "trial" plate made of 
one of the series and prove it on the stock to 
be used. This is the only way to prove tech- 
nique, printability, composition, and its power 
of display. You can probably save money, 
too, by adhering to this rule. 



«-* Page Two Hundred and Twelve -»- 



CHAPTER XXVII 
The "Bleed" Border 

MOST advertisers and artists understand, 
what a "bleed" border is, but many mis- 
takes are made in making up the working 
drawings so as to give the engraver and printer 
a chance to accomplish what is intended. 

To "bleed" a page does not necessarily 
mean a bleed border, for there are lots of draw- 
ings now-a-days that have no borders. It 
means, however, that when the page, cover, 
or whatever it is, is printed and finished, it 
shows the design (and here design means either 
background color or any other part of the 
whole scheme), coming right to the edge of 
the paper, leaving no white paper margin 
showing. 

No printer could set up a plate, say 4x7 to 
print on a sheet 4x7 and leave a clean edge, or 
be able to trim down a stack of booklets just 
to the edge of the plate, without either cutting 
into the printed matter or leaving a more or 
less uneven white margin. 

I In order to make it practical to have the 
design end at the clean edge of the page, it is 
necessary to make the working drawing a little 
-•■ Page Two Hundred and Thirteen ■*- 



REPRODUCTI ON 



larger than it will eventually appear. This will 
allow the printer to trim down both white 
paper and a little of the printed design to the 
size originally desired. 

Artists should bear in mind that in making 
a working drawing for a book or booklet, only 
three sides will bleed, the left-hand side that 
comes up to the fold of the paper will not bleed. 

Opinions differ as to the amount of extra 
design to draw, so as to allow for bleeding, but 
the printer can easily set his guillotine to cut 
off one-eighth of an inch. Of course, the artist 
must leave the proportionate amount accord- 
ing to the scale of his working drawing, that is, 
if he is making his drawing twice the size, then 
he must leave one-quarter of an inch on his 
drawing or if he is allowing three-sixteenths 
for the printer to bleed, he must leave three- 
eighths more on his drawing and so on, accord- 
ing to the scale of his drawing and the amount 
of bleed allowed the printer. 

The advertiser when considering bleed pages 
must remember that the eighth or three-six- 
teenth of an inch or whatever it is, must be 
added to the cost of the plates, and that the 
printing will cost more as it covers a greater 
area of plate. 

Bleed borders or bleed pages are effective. 

— »• Pake Two Hundred and Fourteen ■*- 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

Glossary of Terms and Expressions 
Used by Photoengravers 

BACKING— In electrotyping, filling the 
copper shell with metal to make it solid. 

Black Leading — In electrotyping, cover- 
ing the surface of the form to be molded with 
black lead or graphite. 

Bleed — When an illustration has been cut 
down or trimmed so closely that the knife has 
cut into part of the design or border. 

Bite — A single period of etching a plate. 

Block — An engraved plate when mounted 
type high. 

Copy — Any subject, whether drawing, paint- 
ing or object, submitted for photo-mechanical 
reproduction. An original. 

Crop — When marked on copy it means that 
the plate is to be cut off at the line marked 
near the word "crop/' 

Diaphragm — Called "stop" by engravers. 
Used in a lens to increase the sharpness of the 
image. 

Dragon's Blood — An acid-resisting etching 
powder. 

Electro — Electrotype. 

-«■ Page Two Hundred and Fifteen 



REPRODUCTION 



Enamel — The coating on a metal plate 
which, when carbonized by heat, resists acid. 

Etching — Engraving by acid corrosion. The 
engraving thus made. 

Etching Bath — The acid solution used to 
produce an etching. 

Etching Ink — Ink made to resist acid. 

Exposure — The act of submitting a sensi- 
tized surface to the action of the light. Also the 
time occupied in the act. 

Film — Any thin skin of albumen, collodion, 
gelatine, fish glue, or any other substance. 
Usually formed by the evaporation of the 
solvent. 

Flashing — In half-tone making, exposing 
with small stop to white paper. 

Flat — The glass on which several negative 
films are laid close together. The etched plate 
is also called a flat. 

Focal Length — Distance of a lens from the 
ground glass when a most distant object is in 
focus. Also called a "focus" of a lens. 

Focus — When the image on the ground 
glass of a camera is as sharply defined as pos- 
sible, it is said to be "in focus." 

Grain — A granular appearance either in a 
negative or on a metal plate. 

Graver — A metal tool used in engraving. 

-+ Page Two Hundred and Sixteen •«- 



GLOSSARY OF TERMS 

Half-tone — A printing plate made through 
a half-tone screen. 

Half-tone Print — A print from a half- 
tone plate. 

Half-tone Screen — A transparent me- 
dium on which are parallel opaque lines single 
or crossed. Used in photoengraving to break 
up the shades of an image into dots and lines. 

Highlight — The brightest portion of a pic- 
ture, hence the densest part of the negative. 

Highlight Half-tone — A half-tone in 
which the highest lights are entirely white, 
without dots. 

Highlight Stop — The largest stop used in 
half-tone negative making. 

Image — The picture on the ground glass of 
a camera, on the negative, or on the metal. 

Iris Diaphragms — Lens stops formed and 
named after the iris of the eye. They are fixed 
in the lens and give only circular apertures. 

Lens — That part of the camera which 
focuses the image on the negative. 

Mortise — A space cut out, as in the body 
matter of an engraving or block, to allow for 
the insertion of other matter. Mortised type 
is a type in which some portion that does not 
print is cut away, so that other letters or brass 
rules may be inserted. 

-* Page Two Hundred and Seventeen ■*- 



REPRODUCTION 



Mordant — Any corrosive liquid that can 
be used to etch metal. 

Negative — When the lights in a subject are 
shown dark and the darks light. The opposite 
to positive. 

Normal Stop — The diaphragm used to 
photograph the half-tones of the copy in half- 
tone negative making. 

Out of Register — When the various colors 
of a plate or type form do not properly con- 
nect, or the color lines of type do not strike in 
the correct position, they are said to be out of 
register. The expression is also used when the 
printing on the two sides of a page of a book 
or periodical does not exactly match. 

Positive — The image on metal. A photo- 
graphic print from a negative. The opposite of 
negative. 

Powder — Term applied to a finely ground 
resin used to resist acid. 

Print — The positive image produced in a 
printing frame. 

Process Camera — The camera possessing a 
"process lens," used by photoengravers for 
making process color negatives. 

Process Work — Photoengraving. Generic 
term given to all the photo-mechanical pro- 
cesses. 

-h Page Two Hundred and Eighteen •*- 



GLOSSARY OF TERMS 

Reducing — Making smaller. The "cutting" 
solution used to make smaller dots in half-tone 
negatives. 

Reproduction — The act of duplicating by 
photoengraving. A print made by photoen- 
graving. 

Rolling-up — Covering a sensitized surface 
with ink prior to development or during the 
etching operation. 

Routing — The gouging or drilling out of the 
blank portion of the plate to prevent it from 
blurring the work in printing. 

Router — Machine with a cutter revolving 
at high speed for removing metal not wanted 
in an engraving. 

Screeny Negative — One in which the 
screen lines are too prominent. 

Scum — Transparent film of glue between 
the dots on a metal plate which prevents 
etching. 

Sensitizinc — The act of making anything 
sensitive to light. 

Shadow Stop — The smallest stop used in 
half-tone negative making. 

Shoulder — A ledge of metal left at the side 
of a line or dot when etching. 

Staging — Stopping out areas of metal plate 
between etchings. 

-t- Page Tivo Hundred and Nineteen •*- 



REPRODUCTION 



Top — Photoengravers' term for the acid 
resist on a metal plate. 

Topping Powder — The first etching pow- 
der applied to the ink image. 

Undercut — When the etching fluid has 
eaten beneath the design. 

Underlay — In the process of make-ready, 
a piece of paper or thin card placed under type 
or cuts to even up the impression. 

Vignette — A half-tone engraving which 
shades off to nothing. 

Whirler — A machine for revolving a metal 
plate, so as to give an even coating. 

Zinc Etching — The act of engraving on 
zinc with etching fluids. A relief printing plate 
thus made. 



Page Two Hundred and Twenty 



CHAPTER XXIX 

A String to Tie Around Artists' 
Fingers 

Reprinted from PRINTERS' INK MONTHLY 
Copyrighted by the Romer Publishing Co. 

IT is often claimed that artists are very 
difficult to handle and that they insist upon 
having their own way, regardless of conditions 
or preferences of the man who foots the bill. 

An amusing list of remarks has been com- 
piled by a well-known art director. This man 
comes in almost hourly contact with artists 
of every kind, hands out instructions, and 
"knows them like a book/' Here is his printed 
list under the title : 

"How to Handle Commercial Artists 

"Always make a rough composition sketch, 
showing exactly how the job is to be planned, 
that is, provided it must be done in a certain 
way. 

"Keep a duplicate of this sketch for evi- 
dence. 

"Give the artist the size, written out on a 
piece of paper. 

"Write all instructions — never leave them 
to his memory. He may say: 'Oh, I'll remem- 

-«■ Page Two Hundred and Twenty-one •*- 



REPRODUCTI ON 



ber that,' but he won't. Make sure. Write it 
down. 

"Have the technique understood in advance. 

"If colors, state how many colors and what 
colors. 

' 'Ask for the finished work a week in advance 
of the time it is wanted, for even then it will 
be late. 

"Always call an artist up at his studio well 
in advance of the time the finished work is 
wanted. 

"Have the price understood and down in 
black and white. 

"Make them show you a rough sketch, 
working size before they actually complete the 
drawing. It is the only safeguard." 

And now along comes an artist who, having 
read the art director's list of rules, came back 
with his own version, applying to a reversed 
condition of affairs. 

Entitled, "How to Handle Art Directors," 
the artist's list reads thus: "Yes, by all means 
have the price understood and down in black 
and white. 

"Do not accept an order if there are too 
many artistic restrictions. They'll make me- 
chanical automatons of you if they get half a 
chance. 

-*• Page Two Hundred and Twenty-two ■*- 



REPRODUCTION 



"Make no promise as to the time of delivery. 
Art can't be ground out as water is run from 
an open spigot. Say you will do your best and 
let it go at that. They always have enough 
time later — for a thousand corrections. 

"If a size is given you, insist upon a 
written duplicate in his handwriting. Even art 
directors make mistakes themselves. 

"By all means submit a working-size pencil 
layout for O. K. And paint that written O. K. 
with varnish or cover it with shellac, for they 
will want everything changed, anyhow, and 
the O. K. makes it possible for you to charge 
extra for all the alterations you make." 



Page Two Hundred and Twenty-three •*- 



c R8 c P c R0 i DUCTI0^ 

from the beginning of Time 
has been the simple task of 
Nature . . • . and the intellect 
of Man. C It has befallen our 
lot to do our utmost in the 



& 






m 



of your thoughts that they may 
be spread before the masses in a 
clear and convincing manner* 
C Into Qomposition of Adver- 
tisements of worthy goods we 
love to pour all that Nature 
and Experience have endowed 
us in the way of typographic <| 
knowledge and human appeal. j| 



& 




PHILLIPS & WIENES 

( ty c poq%jA c phic $e%y*ANjrs 
1 60 East Twenty-fifth Street New York 



Page Two Hundred and Twenty-four 



O matter how much world- 
ly knowledge a man may 
acquire, unless he has ac- 
quired sincerity and respect for the 
finer things of life — Literature, 
Music, Art and Reverence, he is 
not educated. Those who earn 
their living by any one of these 
finer things are in a unique po- 
sition to develop ultra-intelli- 
gence . . . We are Artists, devot- 
ing ourselves not only to the 
economic demand for something 
New, but to the deep, inextinguish- 
able longing for something Better! 



THE LINNINGS 

Accredited Advertising Artists 
110 West 40th Street, New York City 

TELEPHONE BRYANT 9497 

"8 



Page Two Hundred and Twenty-five 



OUR PHOTOS TELL YOUR STORY' 




1 RICE is the last word in Com- 
mercial Photography, but an A. P. S. 
statement represents the last two 
words— PROPER PRICE. 

We are not in business for just what 
we can get out of it, but also for 
what we can put into it. In short, 
we are worth-while photographers, 
giving you worth-while pictures for 
a worth-while price. 

We make Motion Pictures, too, and 
would like to show you some inter- 
esting examples of this latest adver- 
tising feature. 

American Photo Service, Inc* 

110 West Fortieth Street New York City 

Telephone Bryant 0738 



Page Two Hundred and Twenty-six 



look at the 
cover on 
this book 

finer than leather 

wears longer 

costs less 



MADE BY 

WALCUTT BROS. COMPANY 

141 East 25th St. New York 

-*■ Page Two Hundred and Twenty-seven ■*- 









117 

^r ^/ P ca " y° ur atten " 
▼ ▼ ^ tion to our dem- 
onstrations of ECONOMY 
gained by 20 years' ex- 
perience in the printing 
business, and to the 
spirit of pride we display 
in our work. 

We would like to show 
you how well we are serv- 
ing others by proving how 
well we can serve you. 

Small jobs appeal to us 
just the same as the big 
ones ; in fact many people 
prefer to give us all their 
work under certain quan- 
tities, knowing that it is 
PRACTICAL ECONOMY. 

ALEX SHEFTEL 

High-Grade Job Printing 
138 W. 36th St., N. Y. City 

TELEPHONE FITZ ROY 3839 






31* -' 



-FnM&il 



Page Two Hundred and Twenty-eight 



PROCESS OFFSET 

A Few of its Advantages 



1 . Realistic reproduction of original copy. 

2. Makes possible the printing of fine screen half' 
tones on rough surfaced paper. 

3. Reducing to a minimum the objectionable 
mechanical formation of the half-tone screen. 

4. More faithful reproduction of color work with 
fewer colors than by lithography. 

5. Quality of adding "depth" to reproductions, due 
to opportunity of using Antique paper. 

6. More artistic effects possible on unusual stock. 

7. Easy means of duplication of plates without 
the expense of electros. 

8. Practically eliminates expensive overlays and 
make-ready. 

9. Adds "texture" and "feel" to black and white 
as well as to color work. 

10. Cost? In many cases cheaper than printing. 

ANDREW H. KELLOGG CO. 

141 to 155 East 25th Street 
New York City 

PIONEER PRODUCERS OF PROCESS OFFSET 



Page Two Hundred and Twenty-nine 











Composition and Press- 
work on this edition by the 

Blanchard Press 

I incorporated 

418-428 West 25th Street 
NEW YORK 






H 55 85 <i 





-». Page Two Hundred and Thirty •*- 

























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HECKMAN 

BINDERY INC. 



^ NOV 84 

N. MANCHESTER, 
INDIANA 46962 




